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For the South Koreans who had not won a game against China since 1982, the victory was sweet as honey. Maybe even sweeter.

On the Finals of the 2002 Asian Games Men’s Basketball Championship, the unknown Korean Men’s basketball team defeated the Chinese team that had two current NBA players Yao Ming and Mangke Bateer. The score was 102-100. Yao, taken first over all in the 2002 N.B.A. draft by the Houston Rockets, had 23 points and 22 rebounds for China, which led by 84-71 with slightly more than three minutes left.

With 25.5 seconds left in the game, the Chinese were in the lead 90-83. “At that point, we were hoping for a miracle”, says the starting point guard of Korea at that time Lee Sang Min. Little did he know that a miracle would really happen. When China was inbounding the ball, the speedy Korean guard Kim Seung Hyun stole the ball and assisted Hyun Ju Yup to score an easy two. After about five seconds, Kim Seung Hyun stole the ball again and this time Assisted Moon Gyung Eun for a three point shot. The Koreans had scored 5 points in approximately 5 seconds. Then Koreans decided to intentionally foul in hopes of the Chinese missing the free throws. The Chinese guard Wu Heidong, a very high percentage free throw shooter, missed both free throws, giving the ball in Korea’s hands with 10 seconds to go with 2 down. There was no strategy. Hyun Joo Yup, the small forward of the Korean team drove into the basketball, made a spin mood, and double faked his defender and tied the game. The champion would be decided in overtime.

In the overtime, the Korean team played with heart and heart alone. Once again there was no strategy. “We didn’t really have a set offense at that point. Everybody knew where to be and what to do”. What a coincidence.. In the end, Korea defeated China 102-100 in overtime and became the champions of the 2002 Asian Games.

Looking at Korea’s victory, one can point out the importance of heart in basketball. China, who had a 7?5 center and a 6?5 point guard had a far taller team than Korea. But in the end, the heart defeated height.