Argentina bounced back from a dismal loss to Spain, crushing China and Yao Ming 82-57 Thursday in a Group A match.

Andres Nocioni led Argentina with 17 points and six rebounds, with Emanuel Ginobili scoring 14 and Luis Scola 15.

Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets center, had 15 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes, but did not play much time after China trailing by big margin.

"We didn't play with attitude as we did in the win over New Zealand. We didn't execute the ball well," Yao said.

"Argentina played excellent basketball on both end of the court," said China's coach Del Harris.

"To advance, we have to win two games. We bounced well after the first loss to Spain. That's what we have to do this time," the former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach said.

Scola scored 11 points in the first half to open the margin to 41-21 when Yao shot 1-7 in the field and China's first shooter, Li Nan, missed six consecutive 3-pointers.

South Americans beat Chinese on every aspects of the game, like rebounds (40-29), assists (17-8),turnovers (14-23) and steals (9-2).

Yao, who led the team with 22 points per game,fell into foul trouble with two early fouls in the first half.

"It really took the air off the team," Harris said.

Results of Athens Olympics men's basketball

Group A:

New Zealand bt Serbia and Montenegro 90-87 (39-44)

Spain bt Italy 71-63 (35-33)

Argentina bt China 82-57 (41-21)

Group B:

Puerto Rico bt Angola 83-80 (37-32)

United States bt Australia 89-79 (47-51)

Lithuania bt Greece 98-76 (54-25)