NBA All-star center Yao Ming inspired China's basketball team to a comfortable 69-56 win against visiting Melbourne Tigers on Monday night.

Yao Ming of China tries to pass the ball during a friendly between China and Melbourne Tigers on Monday in Shenzhen of South China's Guangdong Province. [Xinhua] The NBA all-star giant, who struggled with a shoulder injury following the NBA season, hit 12 points in about 20 minutes of court time in Shenzen during his first game for China this year.

The Houston Rockets center helped China end the five-match losing streak that marred last month's European tour.

Newly signed Milwaukee Bucks power forward Yi Jianlian topped the scoring with 20 points and successfully covered the pivotal role while Yao was benched.

Wang Shipeng contributed eight points while shooter Zhu Fangyu and guard Liu Wei added seven apiece.

China's Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas was also absent because he was visiting the FIBA Europe Cup.

China started slowly to trail the Aussie team in the first quarter.

The Tigers opened the score with two three pointers before Yao responded with a jump shot and slam dunk to make it 4-6.

But with little game time in the tank, Yao was replaced after just four minutes.

He was benched until the final minute of the first quarter, but helped China's resurgence in the second to regain the lead from four points down.

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