Yao thrills crowd at first China NBA game
Yao thrills crowd at first China NBA game
Agencies, Shanghai, China
Yao Ming's Houston Rockets squeezed past the Sacramento Kings on Thursday in the first NBA game to be played in China, a country the fast-growing basketball league deems a potential marketing mecca.
The Rockets topped the Kings 88-86 in a pre-season match-up -- but in many ways the score did not matter.
All eyes were glued on hometown hero Yao, who has emerged as a worldwide marketing phenomenon that lured mega-sponsors from McDonald's to Disney to the China games, which include a match-up between the same teams in Beijing on Sunday.
A capacity crowd of more than 11,000 at the newly refurbished Shanghai Stadium cheered raucously every time Yao attacked the basket.
"Yao Ming is quite simply the most important development for the world of basketball, for the NBA, in China that has ever occurred," NBA Commissioner David Stern told reporters.
The 2.29-metre (7ft-6ins) Yao has become a symbol of emerging China and a key part of the globalization of sport.
Yao, 23, was one of the first Chinese nationals to be allowed to head to the NBA. After three years in the league -- he was taken by the Rockets as the top draft choice in 2001 -- he has established himself as one of the game's premier players.
The center's marketability has made him Asia's hottest sports commodity. Observers say his youthful sense of humor and self- deprecating manner have won him fans in a league characterized by brashness and individuality.
Yao scored 14 points on Thursday even though he was taken out with two minutes to go in the third quarter and was never played again despite the crowd shouting for his return.
Head coach Jeff Van Gundy said he did not want to overplay the Chinese.
Yao said: "I don't think I played that well. I was a bit nervous, just as if I was playing my first NBA game. Perhaps it was because I'm not used to such an occasion."
Yao's popularity is such that more than half of the visits to NBA Web sites last season were from outside the United States -- the first time that has happened. He twice garnered more All-Star votes than Shaquille O'Neal.
It has also earned endorsement contracts galore, including one with Reebok who recently signed a five-year deal to sell NBA gear in Asia.
Forbes magazine put Yao at the top of its list of Chinese celebrities with an estimated income of US$14.5 million, largely from his endorsement deals.
Meanwhile, NBA commissioner David Stern said he expects the NBA in China to expand in step with the country's burgeoning economy, which clocked 9.3 percent growth last year.
"In order to bring two teams here, and over 100 NBA employees, to pay for travel, accommodation ... we have spent several millions of dollars," Stern said.
"This is an extraordinary investment in an economy and country which is the largest in the world in respects of population and an economy that is outstripping the rest of the world in terms of growth.
"Over the next 20 years, the growth of the NBA in China will mirror or parallel the growth in China."
Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, Stern said, was central to the NBA decision to bring the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings to China for two exhibition games this week.
He said the NBA was seeking to help Beijing sports authorities stage the 2008 Olympic basketball tournament, similar to its role in Athens, and may even hold an NBA regular-season game at the Beijing Olympics basketball venue.