Yi Jianlian and Hamed Haddadi came up big for their respective national teams last night, propelling each squad to an unblemished 5-0 record in the 2009 Asia Basketaball Championships.

With the two NBA big men leading their teams over Jordan and Korea, China and Iran are now the remaining teams without a loss.

China to the quarterfinals undefeated
Yi wasn’t just big, he was huge as he scored 29 points, pulled down 18 rebounds, passed for 4 assists, and blocked 2 shots, all game-highs, against Jordan, who was also 4-0 coming into the game.  China won the game 89-83 in what was the closest challenge to China in the tournament.

Wang Zhizhi added 23 points and 8 rebounds for the victors.  Rasheim Wright led Jordan with 28 points, but the 6-3 Jordanian guard needed 22 shots to achieve his total.

Iran also undefeated going into quarterfinals
Hamed Haddadi was strong in the middle for Asiabasket defending champions Iran. The 7-2 Haddadi put up 21 points, 16 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, and 4 assists in pushing Iran over east Asian squad Korea, 82-66.

Haddadi completely dominated Ha Seung-Jin, formerly of Portland Trailblazers, as the 7-3 Korean center managed just 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes of play.

Iran was led in scoring by Hamed Afagh’s 24 points.  Donggeun Yang led Korea with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Asiabasket Quarterfinals
After the fifth day of games, the Asiabasket quarterfinals are set for August 14, 2009:

• Jordan vs. Philippines, 14h00 (GMT+8)
• Qatar vs. Iran, 16h00 (GMT+8)
• Chinese-Taipei vs. China, 19h00 (GMT+8)
• Korea vs. Lebanon, 21h00 (GMT+8)

For the entire Asia Basket schedule, click here.