China's national basketball coach Guo Shiqiang came under pressure from the nation's rabid fans and sporting press Monday after Iran thrashed his team 70-52 in the Asian Championship final. Iran used a blistering attack to crush the home court favorite Sunday night, with Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Ehadadi dominating a Yao Ming-less China with 19 points and 17 rebounds. “China's fans, used to dominating Asia in basketball, will never tolerate this kind of insult and humiliation,” said a report on the sports section of leading Internet portal Sina.com. “If Guo Shiqiang is able to continue as head coach of the national team, then one can only say that the future (at next year's World Basketball Championships) will be more difficult.” More than 75 percent of nearly 330,000 people polled by Sina.com said they were “very disappointed” with the result, with six out of 10 directly blaming Guo for the loss. It was the first time China lost the Asian Basketball Championship final in 15 tries, and the most lopsided defeat the team had ever suffered in the regional tournament, the leading Titan Sports Weekly said. Iran dominated the host on both ends of the court, jumping out to a 21-10 first quarter lead and never looking back. “As head coach, I take full responsibility for the loss,” said Guo, 34, a former point guard for China who is the youngest-ever national coach. “We were not well prepared mentally, while the players had too much pressure on them,” he told a post-game press conference. Guo, who was appointed in May, succeeded American Del Harris and Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas who guided China to repeated Asian Championship titles as well as top eight Olympic finishes in Athens and Beijing. “We peaked for a short period at the Beijing Olympic Games following the strenuous efforts of two foreign coaches,” the Tianjin Daily News said in a commentary. “But instead of seeking to prolong this peak, we have asked a young coach to start all over again. It is hard to say if this is a fair way to treat Guo Shiqiang.” Asian power shifts The Chinese were adjusting to the realities of the post-Yao Ming era Monday after their long dominance of continental basketball was broken by Iran. Iran was defending champion but its title triumph in 2007 came as China rested its top players with an eye on the Beijing Olympics. New Jersey Nets center Yi Jianlian was supposed to be the man to step up and replace Yao as China's driving force but on Sunday he was comprehensively outplayed by Hamed Ehadadi of the Memphis Grizzlies, who retained the tournament MVP award.“Yi is a great talent ... but it's a lot on him and ... he is not a player who will make a difference in a team,” Iran's experienced Serbian coach Veselin Matic said after the game. “He's not a leader in the team, Zhizhi was more of a leader but he is a little bit old now.” With Lebanon and Jordan also making it to the last four, the 25th Asian championship witnessed a shift in the balance of power to the west of the continent.
