Results tagged “nba”

And he got the characters right. 冠軍 means "champion" (he's using traditional characters). The other side says "Chatty." According to Artest's Twitter page, Chatty is the name of a friend who passed away. On Twitter, Artest also says he flew in Boogie the barber from Orlando for the cut and paid him a hotel room plus $20. Artest and the Lakers begin their quest to prove the left side of his head correct at 10:30 am Shanghai time against, fittingly, the Clippers. Source: Ball Don't Lie

Yi Jianlian is so excited about not being forced to play in the Chinese National Games that the guy’s actually playing some good basketball. He scored 21 points and grabbed 11 boards in an exhibition game against the New York Knicks last Friday. In the Nets’ two previous games, against the Boston Celtics, Yi went for 20 and 8 in the first, but just 2 and 4 in the second.

The NBA is touching down in China this weekend, with the Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets playing a preseason game in Beijing. Ahead of the game, the league issued a press release that it decided to call "Bryant's jersey remains top seller in China."

       

Here's a change: the biggest NBA news in China right now isn't about Yao Ming or Kobe, but rather their 7-foot-1 compatriot, Shaq. The Cleveland Cavs center arrived in China on Monday on a promotional tour, but made an unplanned stop at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, claiming, "I always wanted to know if Shaolin kung fu was real or not. Now, at last I know - the Chinese kung fu I saw on television, it was all real."

Forget about snapping up cheap U.S. real estate--Kenneth Huang and his cash-rich Chinese partners are about to make history and change the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers by purchasing a stake in the NBA franchise.

NBA Commissioner David Stern is interviewed in a video from NBC Sports entitled "China's passion for basketball." Stern appears to have adopted his own passion for another Chinese invention: the comb-over.

• After 15 years, China Soccer Ceases Publishing [China Sports Review] "To adapt a new economic climate, we are to restructure our product. During the restructuring, China Soccer will temporarily cease publishing from March 10. Thank you, our readers, for your support all these years and being along with us."
• NBA May Benefit as China Boosts Sports Arena Plans [Bloomberg] "China’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) of extra spending, announced in November, includes boosts for cultural and sports- related infrastructure. That’s prompting local governments to sound out the NBA about managing future stadiums, said Tim Chen, NBA China’s chief executive officer."
• China to Overcome Global Recession First, Rogers Says [Bloomberg] "China’s reserves allow the government to spend on projects that will make the nation more efficient and competitive as the global economy recovers, said Rogers, the author of 'A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World’s Greatest Market.' Signs China is taking steps to liberalize its currency will also benefit the country, he added."

It looks like the Sports Illustrated cover curse applies to the Chinese version as well. Former NBA player Bonzi Wells was released by the CBA's Shanxi Zhongyu a couple of days ago, shortly after his mug graced the cover of SI China.

What will the Chinese sports world be buzzing about in 2009? Here is a look at what could lie ahead this year. In no particular order, the top 10 sports stories in China for 2009:

The only two Chinese players currently in the starting lineup for NBA teams will face off in New Jersey Monday night, at 7:30 p.m. EST (8:30 a.m. Tuesday Beijing time). It is the third meeting, and the first this year, for Yao Ming (姚明) and Yi Jianlian (易建联). The game will air live on CCTV's sports channel.

In what we're sure is a total coincidence, NBA entities had two big China-related announcements right around the time Team USA finished its gold medal romp in Wukesong Arena in Beijing.

With the opening Olympic tournament game against Team USA just around the corner, a less than fully recuperated Yao Ming finds himself sandwiched between angry fans on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Chinese fans blame the Rockets for the stress fracture Yao Ming sustained during this last NBA season, thus jeopardizing his upcoming performance and China's chances to shine in the Olympic tournament. American fans hurl back that it is the year round obligations to the Chinese National team that have worn him out, and remind the Chinese exactly who is footing Yao Ming's $15 million salary. Given the headache of dealing with pressure from both sides, it should come as no surprise when Yao stated that he would like this to be his final Olympic appearance.

"It will be my third," he said. "I was a very young player and got my first taste of the Olympics in 2000 at Sydney. I played in Athens in 2004 and now this is my home country and the highest special honor in 2008. Enough, I think. Why would I need to play in London in 2012?"

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey probably has one thing to say to Yao Ming right now: Shut up.

By Thalia Kwok

ESPN.com's David Thorpe recently published a look at the NBA's 2008 rookie class, suggesting for each one an NBA veteran they should study in order to maximize their potential. And according to Thope, China's Yi Jianlian (易建联), that reluctant Milwaukee Buck, had better start working on his tattoo collection. The veteran he should emulate is Marcus Camby (without all the injuries, we assume).

Earlier we had reported that America's favorite pastime might soon be making its Chinese debut and now it's official. The China Series 2008, as its being called, will feature two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres on March 15-16. The games will be held at Beijing's Wukesong Baseball Field, which will also be used for the upcoming Olympics. No word yet on when tickets will be available or how much they will be.

Heres' a public service announcement to (illegal) satellite TV users from Shanghaiist: Don't put stuff on top of your satellite receiver box. We had gotten in the habit of placing the occasional DVD or DVD sleeve on top of our satellite box, which is covered by a bunch of small vents. Not long ago, while working at our computer (surprise, surprise) at around 1 am, we heard a popping noise coming from near the TV...

So Lebron James was the favourite of the fans at the NBA game in Shanghai the other day, but there was yet another unlikely fella that stole the show. Great excitement erupted among the audience when some of them thought they spotted the 24 year old star hurdler, but it turned out that he was just a lookalike. Nevertheless, that didn't stop people from asking to have their photographs with him. Apparently, this guy sounds like Liu Xiang too. You decide for yourself.

The massive NBA marketing machine rumbled through Shanghai last night in the first of three “China Games,” the latter two to be held in Macau beginning tonight. The pre-season game between the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers was held at the Qizhong Sports Stadium in the Min-hang district. Some observations:

Eating with chopsticks can be tricky for those of us who first picked them up quite late in life. Even though we've been using them for a while, our frequent spillages suggest that we need to refine our chopstick wielding skills. Success in this endeavour will generate the same level of praise hitherto reserved for baby faced Channel V presenters and NBA basketball stars. We may exaggerate, but thanks to Gomestic (via Lifehacker) we have found the definitive seven step guide to becoming a chopstick maven.

The Chinese internet is currently abuzz with all sorts of reports and rumours of what went on at Yao Ming's wedding at Shanghai's Shangri-La Hotel on Monday. Earlier in the day, we called up our friend Sebastien Lathuile, who is floral meister at the hotel, thinking we could get some inside scoop or even pictures of the event. Unfortunately, all he could tell us was that he was not personally involved in the event and he knew absolutely nothing about the wedding. Apparently the management of the entire event had been farmed out to a local Shanghai company, and everything was kept under a very tight lid (with a generous budget dedicated to security), so there was nothing more that he could tell us.

Notorious NBA bad boy Yao Ming has done it again. He's late for national team training — and China's official sports association has made it clear they are sick and tired of his Rodmanesque antics:

Because Shanghaiist knows you're all fans, we're sure readers aged 12-16 are excited to hear that Avril Lavigne will be playing Shanghai on August 15! Avril will be perform one night at the prestigious Shanghai Qi Zhong Tennis Center (where the NBA play-off between Cleveland and Orlando will be held in October). RMB 200 tickets already seem to be sold out, but for those of you who aren't part of the "penny-pinching-white-male-with-a-yellow-heart-pseudo intelligentsia" crowd, tickets are still available at RMB 400, 800, 1200, and 2000 from this site.

Our round-up of some of last week's highlights from China's English-language blogosphere:

Chinese basketball fans held their collective breath this morning as the NBA draft took place a full 12 time-zones away. 22-year old 19-year old Yi Jianlian slipped past his projected spot at the number 5 pick when the Boston Celtics signed a draft-and-trade agreement with the Seattle Supersonics involving 7-time all-star Ray Allen.

The NBA is coming to Shanghai again on October 17. This time the Cleveland Cavaliers, fresh off the worst NBA Finals performance we have ever seen, take on the Orlando Magic. If meaningless preseason hoops is your thing, start booking tickets to Minhang District now. The game is being played way the hell out there at the Shanghai Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center. And for those of you who remember the 2004 Shanghai clash between the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings (tickets for which started at US$12) you might be interested to know that tickets for the 2007 version start at US$105. Now, we know the dollar has gotten weaker ... but this seems like a greedy move for a sport and league that should be trying to appeal to the common man. (UPDATE: According to the seating chart, it looks like very few nose-bleed seats were priced at RMB 200, but maybe they are sold out.)

If you are wondering, yes we do live in one of the only apartments in Shanghai not equipped with local cable TV. We're sure we could get it installed, but have never gotten around to it. The finals are being shown on 22 Chinese television stations.

Shanghaiist has a fondness for elephants retained since our childhood exposure to Barbar. In mid-May we linked out to a Washington Post report that stated that the world's illegal ivory trade was being facilitated by Chinese-run smuggling rings that have extended their reach into Africa over the last decade.

Because you're going to be hearing his name a lot very soon. ESPN.com says the 19-year-old 7-footer from Shenzhen is the third-best player in the June 28 NBA Draft. ESPN NBA expert Chad Ford had this to say (there is also a video that accompanies that story ... Yi Jianlian speaks very good English):