CHN – Liu leading the Wei for China

WUHAN (FIBA Asia Championship) – China’s best known national team players may well be the big names and big bodies of Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi, but the person really steering the ship is of a much smaller stature.

A veteran of two Olympics and three FIBA World Championships, 1.90m Liu Wei plays a vital role for what is mostly an inexperienced Chinese team.

“I am over 30 years old now, and the many games I have played have given me a lot of experience, a lot more than the younger players,” Liu said.

Liu showed all of his experience as he guided his team past a determined Lebanon in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan.

Liu gave his teammates a reminder of what was at stake before the game, and then backed it up with 13 points on 6/7 shooting and not a single turnover as his team extended a one-point lead late in the second quarter into a 20-point win.

“After we learned that Iran had lost to Jordan we were happy,” he admitted. “But then on second thoughts, I thought that we should really learn a lesson from this. In these games it is win or go home, so we should never let our guard down.”

His point guard’s leadership was not lost on coach Bob Donewald.

“I thought Liu Wei was the catalyst in the third quarter to open the game up, I thought he was the difference,” he said. “He’s got a lot of games under his belt, and in situations like that, that experience really helps. He used it today to make sure we got the win.”

Stepping up in big games is not something new for Liu.

In the Eight-Finals of last year’s FIBA World Championship, Lithuania locked down Yi, cutting off China’s main scoring threat. Liu responded by scoring 21 points himself against the eventual bronze medallists.

At the Beijing Olympics he scored 19 points on 4/7 three-point shooting as China went within seconds of causing the upset of the tournament against Spain.

At the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, Liu had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in his team’s crunch game against Puerto Rico. When the going gets tough, Liu has gotten going.

What coach Donewald has been most impressed by has been his point guard’s new-found commitment to defense.

“I’ve been on him a lot about his defense. Don’t tell him this, but he’s been doing a really good job. But don’t tell him, don’t write it, because I want to keep him focused,” Donewald said with a smile.

“He has been doing a good job of getting down, sliding his feet and defending. And that’s got to continue if we are going to keep winning.”

Liu has full faith that when he does retire, the new crop of Chinese players will keep their nation up amongst the best nations in the world.

“Our young players are doing a really good job, and they will mature more as they play more games in the future,” he said.

For now though, the person setting the course as China attempts to set sail for London is Liu, and his plan to get there is simple.

“Our plan is always to execute our systems well. What we need is a gold medal and we will fight for this.”

China face Korea in the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Asia Championship at 20:00 local time (14:00 CET/12:00 GMT).

Watch the game live on FIBATV.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA