BEIJING, 18 October 2004 — The Sacramento Kings beat the Houston Rockets in a nail-biter pre-season game in Beijing yesterday, 91-89 on a baseline jump-shot by reserve guard Bobby Jackson in the final seconds.
The Kings’ win followed an 86-88 loss in Shanghai on Thursday to the Rockets, led by hometown favorite Yao Ming, splitting the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) first two games in China, a fast-growing market for the league. Jackson hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 89 with barely more than one minute remaining. After he scored with 6.7 seconds left to give the Kings the lead, Houston were unable to respond.
“I always dream about making the final shot,” said Jackson, who did not play in Thursday’s game. Jackson scored six of his 13 points in the final two minutes.
“I didn’t want to go into overtime, I can tell you that. But we came out and played hard, both teams played hard, and I’m just happy that we got the win.”
Who won or lost, however, appeared to matter little to the sellout crowd of nearly 18,000, who cheered loudest for the 2.29-meter Yao and Liu Wei, another player from China who joined the Kings’ training camp this year.
Yao, who scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had three assists in his 27 minutes on the court, said playing NBA pre-season games in China had a special meaning for him and for the Chinese fans.
“I’ll just say I got done what I had to get done,” said Yao, 23, after the game.
“These few games have carried precious opportunities for Chinese basketball fans to experience the passion of NBA basketball.”
The extremely popular Yao, the Rockets’ top draft choice in 2001, has become an icon at home and abroad and has helped to globalize the NBA.
In large part because of him, more than half the visits to NBA websites last season were from outside the United States - the first time that has happened. He has twice garnered more All-Star votes than Shaquille O’Neal.
Both teams’ coaches had nothing but nice things to say about the host nation.
