JAKARTA, Aug. 23 -- Chinese men's basketball team beat Kazakhstan 83-66 in the preliminary round of 2018 Asian Games here on Thursday, made it to last eight as top of the Group D.
Because of turnovers Chinese players made, Kazakhstan once took a lead of 37-36 by the end of the second quarter. Then, China pulled themselves together and bounced back in the third quarter with a 31-12.
Liu Zixuan hit four of his five three-pointer attempts and scored a game-high 18 points.
"Players were lack of patience at halftime, as they committed too much turnovers in the first half. But it is common for a young team to have up-and-downs," said Li Nan, head coach of the Chinese team.
Zhao Rui also admitted that they didn't prepare very well, "We didn't expect how fierce Kazakhstan could be, we will try to make less mistakes in coming competitions."