As they jumped out to a 16-5 lead over Lithuania on Tuesday, it seemed for a moment that China were about to make a great leap forward into the upper echelons of world basketball.
Shooting the lights out, the mainlanders were playing with the bravado of their southern American coach Bob Donewald, and making fans forget about Yao Ming for a moment.
But then the old Chinese basketball ways re-appeared. Players stood in corners waiting for the ball to come to them, instead of cutting or setting screens. Big men put the ball on the floor and got their pockets picked by sneaky-fast guards. Blocking out with hands instead of legs and torsos, China got out-rebounded 50-30, a staggering deficit, as Lithuania came from behind to win 78-67 and knock China out of the world championships in the round of 16.
That result would disappoint many teams. But for Chinese players and coaches, reaching the second round, and playing a competitive game against one of the world's hottest teams, was wind in the sails of a squad hoping to challenge at the London 2012 Olympics and build a basketball culture no longer centred on a 2.28-metre pioneer with a soft touch and a world famous name - Yao.
'We cannot feel happy to lose, but I think we have improved,' said Yi Jianlian, the Washington Wizards forward who has taken over Yao's role as team leader on and off the court. 'We have a lot of young players. We have a lot of talent. We should keep working hard.'
'Not everybody can be in the top 16 in the world,' said guard Liu Wei after the game. 'Everybody is giving their best effort to get there.' Liu certainly gave his best effort, going 3-of-5 from three-point range and scoring 21 points to help out Yi, who was nagged by a foot injury and scored only 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting against Lithuania, after averaging more than 20 points during the tournament.
But other Chinese players seemed to run out of steam later in the Lithuania game, and during other points of the tournament where teams play five opening-round games in six days. 'Lithuania is a very strong basketball country and we can learn a lot from them,' said Liu. 'They are loaded with talent, their bench is very deep. When we were tired, their bench was so strong they were able to take advantage of that.'