China's Basketball in 2018: making the ordinary extraordinary

BEIJING - On the evening of September 1, 2018, Yao Ming outstretched his long arms, sitting in front of dozens of people on the basketball court of a stadium in Jakarta, with a big, iconic smile on his face.

The people standing behind him consisted of four Chinese national teams that had just won all four basketball gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games, across the 5x5 and newly introduced 3x3 competitions for both men and women. The night represented a watershed moment for Chinese basketball; a milestone on the road to "Make the Ordinary Extraordinary", an inspirational slogan unveiled by the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in November.

2018 was truly a historic year for Chinese basketball, with the national teams' Asian Games clean sweep described as "historical" by Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA.

At the previous Asian Games four years ago in Incheon, South Korea, China failed to win gold in either the men's or women's basketball event, with neither side advancing to the semifinals.

This time, the team sat at the top of Asian men's basketball goes by the name "Team Red". Under a newly introduced system, China's national basketball team has split into two teams - Team Red and Team Blue, led by Li Nan and Du Feng respectively - playing in different international competitions before they merge in 2019 in preparation for the 2019 FIBA World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.