I'm watching the U.S. basketball team play China's, and the Americans are kicking butt 83-50. It's like the Harlem Globetrotters playing that other team, whose only purpose was to look like idiots as the Globetrotters danced around them.

This is probably the most anticipated game in the Olympics for millions of Chinese. Riding the taxi back to the hotel as the game got under way, I could see countless TV screens in homes and shops tuned to the match. The radio program the driver was listening to announced score updates every 10 seconds, it seemed.

Yet what with their state-of-the-art sports venues and nationalistic pomp this Olympics, it seems the Chinese have forgotten their team isn't what'd you call a world basketball power.

Houston Rockets player and Chinese national Yao Ming is a hero to many here, but he's been unable to ward off this public flaying. The Chinese are getting a harsh reminder at the moment.

Yet if you listened to just the Chinese announcers' play-by-play, you'd think the Chinese team was winning.

"It's not like the American team is playing that well," one announcer says in Chinese. "It's just the Chinese aren't shooting well."

That came after LeBron James soared through the air and slammed one home over two Chinese players.

"The trick to the Americans is they're aggressive," another one says. "They're actually shooting very poorly."

The Americans were ahead by 26 points at this moment. Hmm...maybe aggression was a good strategy.

So it's 89-54 now. The Americans are looking bored. They're leaving Chinese players wide open to take 3-point shots, which the Chinese have made quite a few of but not enough. Jason Kidd just now didn't even try to block an attempted 3-point shot. It failed to go in anyway

Those lazy, aggressive Americans. They're not actually more talented. They're just better at putting the basketball through the hoop.

"The Chinese are playing actually pretty well," the announcer just said. "They proved that they're not afraid of the Americans."

It's 98-66, with 30 seconds to go. By the way, the Americans have the 98 points. Just in case you were only listening in.

-Jack Chang