China's Yao Ming (news) (L) reacts on the bench with team mate Li Nan during the closing minutes of China's 82-57 loss to Argentina at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. (Reuters)

Argentina used its press and passing to negate Yao Ming's size Thursday, earning an 82-57 victory over China. Forcing turnover after turnover with its fullcourt press and then moving the ball around quickly on the offensive end, Argentina made sure the 7-foot-5 Yao was never a factor.

Both teams came into the matchup with 1-1 records, and the loss put China into a must-win situation for a chance to reach the quarterfinals.

Andres Nocioni had 17 points for Argentina, while Luis Scola added 15 and Manu Ginobili, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs, had 14.

China committed 15 turnovers and Yao was 1-for-7 from the field as Argentina took a 41-21 halftime lead. Argentina didn't let up as the 6-8 Nocioni, who just signed with the Chicago Bulls, went right at Yao and dunked for Argentina's first points of the second half.

Yao came into the game averaging 25.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. The center for the Houston Rockets finished with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting against Argentina. China had a total of 23 turnovers and Argentina had a 40-29 rebound advantage.

"Obviously we knew China's biggest offensive weapon is Yao and they have good perimeter shooters, and we were able to stop Yao," Argentina coach Ruben Magnano said.

Argentina, the runner-up in the 2002 World Championships, finishes pool play against New Zealand and Italy.

China is one of four teams in Group A with a 1-2 record and it finishes against two of the others - Italy and reigning world champion Serbia-Montenegro. China must win at least one to advance to next week's quarterfinals, something it has done only once in seven previous Olympic appearances.

"Their team played excellent basketball on both ends of the court, maybe a little better on defense than offense and their was offense was very good," said China coach Del Harris, the longtime NBA coach who took over the program earlier this year. 

(Agencies)

negate : to make ineffective or invalid; nullify（使不起作用）

fullcourt press: （全場(chǎng)緊逼）

turnover: a loss of possession of the ball to the opposing team, as by a misplay or an infraction of the rules（失誤）

perimeter: a closed curve bounding a plane area（文中指三分線）