China's Yi Jianlian, front left, is guarded by Jorden's player during the Asian Games Basketball Men's Semifinal in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday Dec. 13, 2006. China won 86-58. Dec. 14 - Former Dallas Maverick Wang Zhizhi scored 20 points as China advanced to the Asian Games basketball final with a 86-58 win over Jordan Wednesday night.
China will next face host Qatar, which held off Iran 67-64, in Friday's gold medal match.
Urged on by a raucous cheering section, Jordan ran to a 24-21 lead in the first quarter. China coach Jonas Kazlauskas switched from man-to-man to zone defense and China began to tighten up, taking a 41-32 lead at the half.
With 3 minutes, 46 seconds left in the third quarter, China's lead had expanded to 13 points and the game seemed secure. Jordan struggled on, but China added another 20 before the final buzzer for the 28-point win.
"Today, we started not that well, but we finished good," said the Lithuanian-born Kazlauskas. "With all the big and small problems we've had, I'm happy we're in the final."
With China's Houston Rockets star Yao Ming remaining in the U.S., Wang has been shouldering center duties and he menaced Jordan inside the paint all night, ending eight for 16 in shooting with four points from the line.
Yi Jianlian, a 19-year-old NBA prospect, added 17 points, while Zhu Fangyu scored 12. Jordanian captain Zaid Al Khas scored 27 points while seeking to hold together his increasingly frustrated and ragged looking teammates.
Mo Ke was flawless from field goal range, shooting five-for-five, including three three-pointers, to rack up 13 points.
"Mo Ke had a very good game from the outside, which allowed Wang to play the inside," Kazlauskas said.
In all, China made 11 of 20 three point attempts, including a string of six without a miss.
"So the game is finished," Jordan coach Mario Palma said of China's magic run. "I think China is the best team in the tournament."
Palma, who took over the job just three months ago after leading Angola in the World Championships, said he knew China would be a tough opponent.
"This team is already much better than three years ago," he said. "With Yao Ming, they're going to be a great team in the Olympics."
On one anxious note, forward Wang Shipeng was carried from the court with a leg injury midway into the third quarter, emerging a few minutes later with ice and bandages on his knee.
"This is very bad," Kazlauskas said. "This could be a big loss for us."
Qatar was behind by seven points after the first period and a point at the half, but outscored Iran 29-18 in the third period to set up a decisive 10-point cushion.
Saad Abdulrahman Ali led the Qataris with 23 points and eight rebounds in a full 40 minutes of court time.
South Korea ended China's 20-year domination of the men's Asian Games basketball title with a 102-100 grand final upset in overtime at Busan in 2002. Yao Ming scored 23 points and had 22 rebounds for China in that match, his last before joining the Houston Rockets.