Asian Games 2018 Final: China vs. Iran Live Stream, Preview

Powerful China and upset-minded Iran will battle for the men's basketball gold medal Saturday in the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

China used its size and strength to dominate Chinese Taipei by an 86-63 margin in the semifinal round. The Chinese will be attempting to win their eighth Asian Games basketball gold medal.

Iran played a strong game in its semifinal to defeat South Korea 80-68. A victory for Iran would be its first-ever basketball gold in the Asian Games.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 a.m ET, and the game is available via live-streaming.

China earned its spot in the final by breaking open what had been a fairly close game at halftime with a powerful third-quarter run.

China held a 37-30 lead after two quarters, and then dominated the next 10 minutes with a 31-12 edge. Zhou Qi of the Houston Rockets led China with 22 points, while teammate Wang Zhelin chipped in with 12 points in support of the high scorer.

Iran's victory gave the winners some revenge over South Korea. Those two teams had met in the 2014 Asian Games title game in Incheon, South Korea, and the hosts were victorious on that occasion.

This time Iran overcame 37 points by Ricardo Ratliffe by concentrating its defensive efforts on the South Korean supporting cast.

That strategy turned out to be successful as South Korea struggled with its three-point shooting—just 4 of 14 from beyond the arc. Heo Ilyoung had scored 18 points and hit four three-pointers in South Korea's previous victory over the Philippines, but he could not get on the scoreboard against the Iranians, per Sid Ventura for ESPN.com.

China's march to the championship round started off with a narrow 82-80 victory over the Philippines, and victories over Kazakhstan (83-66) and Indonesia (98-63) preceded the victory over Chinese Taipei.

Iran defeated Syria (68-55) and Japan (93-67) prior to its triumph over South Korea.