Chinese basketball isn't known so much for its flash and flare.  The NBA fan pays for a ticket looking to see the trash-talking, the behind-the-back passes and above all, the dunks.  The CBA fan goes to the games for...well...actually the Chinese don't really go to the games.  And while it's been discussed by Chinese sportswriters and CBA fans that the game would be more popular in China if it had more of the NBA grit, the CBA has actively protected its game from the fights, the talk and the overall showiness of the NBA.
    One aspect of the game that once was viewed as garish and gratuitous in the NBA is dunking.  So much so that some coaches used to insist their players lay the ball in rather than jam.  While obviously, the attitude towards dunking has changed and the dunk has become as much a part of the NBA game as, say, the bounce pass, in China, dunking is still somewhat of a treat.  Though when you do see a dunk in Chinese basketball, it's never a Baron Davis 360 or a Patrick Ewing reverse.  It's always the same understated two-hand jam that you see in the photo above.
    With the inclusion of American players in the CBA and greater TV exposure to the NBA, dunking has become a bigger part of the Chinese game as well.  Last week, Yao Ming's longstanding CBA single-season dunk record by a Chinese player was broken by 19-year-old Guangdong Tiger Yi Jianlian.  Two weeks ago, Yi threw down his 303rd dunk, one more than Yao's previous record of 302.  While the CBA does, in fact, track dunks as an official statistical category, the league has yet to recognize its new most prolific dunker.  Yi, as of Thursday, has 314 dunks.
    The broken record was announced this week by Sina.com, a Chinese site with, what AFP calls, "the best basketball coverage in China."  I wouldn't know, it's all in Chinese.  Yi averages 24.3 points and 12.1 rebounds per game and is projected to be a top-five pick in the 2007 NBA draft.  If you haven't heard of Yi Jianlian yet, you soon will.  The 7-footer was dubbed "The Next Yao Ming" by TIME Magazine in 2003 and in China, is often compared to Kevin Garnett.
    While Yi Jianlian claims to be 19 years old, the Houton Chronicle broke a story during the FIBA World Championship tournament in Japan that before a game against the U.S., Yi told NBA player Shane Battier that he was 24 years old.  Yi later denied this, but China has a history of concealing the true age of its athletes.  Whatever his age, Yi has dunked his way into Chinese basketball history and when he reaches the NBA, he will surely give Bill Walton reason to shout, "throw it down big man."

•AFP: Yi Slams Yao's China Dunk Record


More "China Ball":
China Ball 1 - Chinese Street Ball
China Ball 2 - How Hoops Came to China
China Ball 3 - Foreign Players in the CBA
China Ball 4 - Bring the NBA to China

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