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All eyes on Lakers at Rockets

Wednesday, 11th March 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

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The Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers face off March 11 at 5:30 PST (8:30 a. m. Beijing time, March 12), in a game that will get plenty of attention in China. Yao Ming and Ron Artest have the Rockets on a 11-2 run since Tracy McGrady cut his season short for knee surgery. Individually, Yao is having his best season yet, averaging nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds a game and playing dominating defense.

But it's not just about Yao and the Rockets. There are almost as many Kobe Bryant fans in China as there are Yao fans, so people will be tuning in to see what the mvp candidate does, too.

Off the roster is Lakers guard Sun Yue, one of three Chinese players in the NBA this season. Sun missed the start of the season due to mononucleosis and played in 10 games, averaging about half a point. He has recently been reassigned to the Lakers' developmental team.

The Lakers are 2-0 against the Rockets this season.

While we're on the topic of the NBA, this Bloomberg piece is an interesting read: NBA may benefit as China boosts sports arena plans.

Yao and Kobe image: gzxw.com

Tags: basketball, Houston Rockets, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Sun Yue, Yao Ming