Yao Thrills Crowd At First China NBA Game

　　NBA第一场中国赛周四在上海举行，姚明所在的火箭队以88：86战胜了国王队。尽管场内观众不停地在呼唤他的名字，回到家乡的姚明并没有获得太多上场时间。

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 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 $14.5 million, largely from his endorsement deals.