Yao breathes fire in China’s first win

A chest-thumping Yao Ming relentlessly powered Olympic hosts China to their first victory in the men’s basketball competition on Thursday. Screaming constantly at his team mates to get him the ball, China’s giant centre scored 30 points in a 85-68 Group B win over Angola, preserving their hopes of a spot in the quarter-finals.

“I think that’s our chemistry,” Yao told Reuters. “My team mates made a lot of room for me by making a lot of open shots and I needed to do something on the inside.” A thunderous slam dunk by Yao gave China a 24-8 lead before Angola sliced the deficit to just two on an off-balance Eduardo Mingas three-pointer to end the first quarter.

Fuelled by Yao’s energy, the Chinese extended their lead again in the third quarter, Yi Jianlian’s breakaway dunk making it 61-47 and reigniting the crowd of 17,000. World champions Spain secured their place in the quarter-finals with a 72-59 Group B victory over Germany helped by 15 points from Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon. German coach Dirk Bauermann said his top player, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, was hammered all day but failed to get to the foul line once.

“There has got to be something wrong,” fumed Bauermann. “A few more fouls should have been called frankly. I hope that doesn’t continue.”

Spain pressure finally tells in victory over Germany

Spain used a 17-0 run that began at the end of the second quarter and finished in the third to seize control in a Group B win over Germany on Thursday. Jose Manuel Calderon poured in 15 points to lead a balanced attack in a 72-59 victory, a result that has left Spain 3-0 heading into their showdown with Team USA on Saturday. Alex Mumbru weighed in with 14 and Pau Gasol 13 for Spain, who got contributions from 11 of the 12 players.

Captain Carlos Jimenez dressed but sat on the bench for the entire game after banging his head on the floor in Tuesday’s overtime triumph against China. Germany, losers to Greece in their previous game, are now 1-2. Spain’s tenacious, hounding defense limited Germany’s NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki to just 11 points on five of 15 shooting.

Dirk Bauermann’s team went in front by as many as eight points in the first half but weren’t able to press home the advantage. Spain tied the game at 33-33 on a pair of Mumbru free throws, only for Pascal Roller to drill a three-ball for the Germans with 1:06 left in the first half.

That’s when the Spaniards took over.

76ers, Iguodala agree on 6-year deal

Now, he’s ready to sign. An NBA source has confirmed that 6-foot-6 guard-forward Andre Iguodala and the 76ers agreed yesterday in principle to a six-year deal worth $80 million. In addition to the base salary, Iguodala, 24, could earn up to $5 million in bonuses. The sixth year of the contract is a player option. Confirmation of the deal came on the heels of a hush-hush 24 hours with both camps – Iguodala’s and the 76ers’ – saying nothing had been finalized.

As late as yesterday afternoon, Iguodala’s mother said she hadn’t heard final word from her son. Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski still had no comment on the deal, which should be signed sometime early next week. With the terms agreed upon, the only remaining speculation is the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal, where Iguodala is dealt once he’s under contract. One source close to Iguodala said he believes the Sixers intend to retain Iguodala and not ship him, and his hefty new contract, to another NBA city.

Stefanski said repeatedly in the last five weeks that re-signing Iguodala, the team’s leading scorer last season, was a “priority.”

Making Iguodala a “priority” translated into a contract worth nearly as much as the blockbuster deal power forward Elton Brand signed with the team in early July for approximately $82 million. Last year, Iguodala rejected a five-year, $57 million contract-extension offer from Sixers GM Billy King in favor of seeing how things played out this summer as a restricted free agent.

Brandon Roy to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery

The Portland Trail Blazers announced today that guard Brandon Roy will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday to repair a tear in the meniscus of his left knee. A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) taken Tuesday revealed the tear in the meniscus.

Trail Blazers team physician Dr. Don Roberts will perform the surgery at Southwest Washington Regional Surgery Center in Vancouver, Wash.

A timetable for Roy’s return will be set following the arthroscopic surgery.

Flip Murray Signs with Hawks

Seeking to add additional depth to its backcourt, the Atlanta Hawks General Manager Rick Sund announced Wednesday that the club has signed free agent guard Ronald “Flip” Murray to a contract. Per team policy, no other details were released.

“By signing Flip, it provides us with another experienced player who has the ability to play multiple positions for us,” said Sund. “Because of his versatility, he will be a valuable asset for us as a reserve, and we look forward to the contributions he’ll bring this season.”

A 6-3, 197-pound combo (point/shooting) guard, Murray is a six-year veteran who last played for the Indiana Pacers. He saw action in 23 games after he was signed a mid-season free agent (March 1) following his release from the Detroit Pistons, and he averaged 11.0 points and 3.5 assists (.425 FG%, .389 3FG%, .754 FT%) in those contests.

He started the final 15 games at point guard for the Pacers last season during their playoff push (Indiana went 10-5 during that stretch), and he averaged 11.0 ppg (.439 FG%, .450 3FG%, .703 FT%) in his 17 overall starts with Indiana.

In a season-and-a-half with the Pistons (88 games, 2006-07 and ‘07-08), Murray tallied 6.9 ppg and 2.9 apg (.406 FG%, .694 FT%).

U.S. Women Still Looking for a Challenge

The U.S. Women’s Senior National Team has yet to be tested at the 2008 Olympics, and it’s likely that things will continue that way until at least the semifinals on Aug. 21. Tonight, they mauled Mali 97-41 at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Center to move to 3-0, all alone atop the Group B standings. China looks to be the next best team in Group B, and the U.S. already beat them by 45.

As it looks now, the only challengers to the U.S. Team’s dominance should be Australia, who the U.S. beat by just four last Tuesday at the Diamond Ball Tournament in Haining, and Russia, who the U.S. beat by 35 the day before. Both are 3-0 in Group A.

Just qualifying for the Olympics was a historical accomplishment for the Mali women. And they almost beat New Zealand in their opening game. But against the U.S., they were completely overmatched. If Mali wasn’t already at enough of a disadvantage, the team was without its best player, Hamchétou Maïga-Ba of the Houston Comets, who suffered a high ankle sprain in her team’s loss to the Czech Republic on Monday. Without her, Maïga-Ba’s teammates hung with the U.S. for about five minutes tonight. A long three-pointer from Aminata Sininta gave them an early 8-7 lead, forcing U.S. coach Anne Donovan to call a timeout with 5:34 left in the first quarter.

Donovan’s team responded with a 16-4 run to end the period, with Kara Lawson coming off the bench to score two points and dish out three assists on the run. Mali scored on just two of its final 12 possessions of the first, and by the time the quarter ended, the U.S. had doubled them up, 24-12.

GM on Iguodala: ‘No deal yet’

3E-MAIL IS a wonderful thing. Responses to questions can be ever so brief, so concise. The question to 76ers president/general manager Eddie Stefanski was: Could he confirm the ESPN.com report that guard/forward Andre Iguodala, a restricted free agent, had agreed to the terms of a 6-year, $80 million contract. “Nothing to report from our side,” Stefanski replied.

That was it. All of it. Later, in Los Angeles on vacation, he was interviewed by Tom McCarthy, of the Phillies’ broadcast team, during the Phils-Dodgers game. When asked about Iguodala, he said, “Right now we’re still negotiating. I hope it comes to fruition, but there’s no deal yet.”

Stefanski has said since the conclusion of last season that it was his intention to re-sign Iguodala and Lou Williams, the team’s restricted free agents. Williams signed a 5-year deal worth between $25 million and $27 million last week. At that time, Stefanski said discussions with Rob Pelinka, Iguodala’s agent, were “progressing.”

Reached via telephone by the Daily News, Iguodala said he would “call right back,” but did not. Pelinka did not respond to several messages.

Cavs pull off big deal to land point guard

An NBA executive said the Cavaliers, in a trade expected to be completed later today, finally have acquired a top-level point guard in executing a six-player, three-team deal. The Milwaukee Bucks traded point guard Mo Williams to the Cavs in exchange for the expiring contracts of guard Damon Jones and forward Joe Smith. As part of the deal, the Bucks will receive Jones and Oklahoma City point guard Luke Ridnour. Oklahoma City acquires Smith and Bucks forward Desmond Mason. Oklahoma City also will send swingman Adrian Griffin to the Bucks.

Williams scored 17.2 points per game with the Bucks last season. He averaged 6.3 assists in 66 games, shooting 48 percent from the field, 86 percent from the free-throw line. He was drafted out of the University of Alabama by the Utah Jazz in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft.

Williams is coming off three strong seasons with the Bucks, where he established himself as one of the league’s better offensive point guards. He is known for his ability to break down defenses off the dribble. The Cavs are taking on significant salary with this move.

Williams has five years and $43 million left on a contract that he signed last summer. He’ll make $8.5 million this season and owns a player option for 2012-13 at $8.5 million. The Cavs showed interest in him last year, but he resigned with the Bucks. Williams will likely be the starting point guard, which leaves restricted free agent Delonte West without much bargaining power in his protracted contract negotiations with the team.

Russians coming to play Orlando Magic in preseason

The Orlando Magic’s seven-game preseason schedule released on Tuesday will feature three straight home games and be tinged with a little international flavor. The slate begins on Oct. 6 at Amway Arena against Atlanta (against whom the Magic will also open the regular season at home on Oct. 29) and ends on Oct. 22 against visiting Memphis. There is also a neutral-site game against rival Miami on Oct. 18 in Jacksonville.

The Miami game will likely draw some curious eyes with the NBA return of 2006 Finals’ MVP Dwyane Wade and the chance to see No. 2 overall draft pick Michael Beasley. The Magic also host defending Euroleague champ CSKA Moscow on Oct. 10. CSKA is one of three Euro squads participating in the NBA’s annual Euroleague American Tour, joining FC Barcelona and Lietuvos Rytas. The three teams will play five exhibition games against NBA clubs.

“These games continue our collaboration with Euroleague Basketball, as we work together to grow the game of basketball on a global basis,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern last month in announcing the continued partnership.

Following the 2008 preseason schedule, 33 games will have been played between the two leagues since Euroleague Basketball was created in 2000, including 13 games during the EA Sports-sponsored NBA Europe Live tour in 2006 and 2007.

While CSKA doesn’t feature any of the recent veteran NBA imports, it does feature former Duke standout Trajan Langdon, who last played in the NBA in 2002.

Oden upbeat after first workout in front of media

Greg Oden can still dunk. That much was clear Tuesday when the top pick in last year’s NBA draft worked out in front of the media for the first time since right knee surgery wiped out his rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers. The 7-footer from Ohio State showed no signs of problems in two-on-two work with teammates Steve Blake and Channing Frye and former Arkansas star Steven Hill, a 7-footer invited to practice with Portland. Oden isn’t allowed to go five-on-five until next month.

“I’m feeling good,” Oden said. “I do not have any pain or soreness in my knee.” Asked whether he noticed Oden favoring his right knee, Frye dismissed it entirely. “He favors dunking on your head, that’s what he favors,” Frye said after giving up his share to Oden in the workout.

Blazers fans fired up about Oden’s arrival were stunned last year to learn that he needed microfracture surgery to stimulate cartilage growth by drilling tiny holes in the bone. Oden now says his right knee actually feels stronger than his left because of rehabilitation and conditioning.

The challenge at this point, he says, is mostly psychological, to stop worrying about the knee and to fulfill high expectations he knows fans have for the him and the team.

Oden is the first to admit he must start from scratch with his interrupted career.