On January 25th:
The Brooklyn Nets vs. Los Angeles Lakers, the league's second- and fourth-highest-paid two-team showdown, New York vs. Los Angeles. LeBron, Westbrook and Harden are three MVPs, and LeBron, Westbrook, Harden and Melon are the top four scorers. Davis also made a comeback.
Big scenes.
In such a big scene, the Brooklyn Nets celebrated the Chinese New Year.
The Nets have been in a Three-Year Tradition of the Chinese New Year Spring Festival.
The interior and exterior of the Home Barclays Center have been renovated and replaced with a full set of atmosphere arrangements for the Lunar Year of the Tiger. All visitors will receive a Chinese New Year red envelope and can taste Chinese food and experience Chinese culture in the venue. This year's Spring Festival Competition also issued a customized Spring Festival training shirt, as well as a joint commemorative shirt for the Spring Festival of the Tiger in cooperation with famous designer Phillip Lim.
In addition, the Nets cheerleading team and the local Chinese children's dance team in New York also performed in the halftime, and fans and network experts from China also landed on the Nets.
After the game, Nash congratulated the Beijing Winter Olympics — he himself had been the torchbearer for the Vancouver Winter Olympics twelve years earlier. Harden also happily sent his blessings, although he said it: "Good luck to all athletes and bring home the gold medal!" ”
He also announced in passing that he would provide scholarships for 13 Chinese students: he wore the number 13.
Coaches and stars wish for the Winter Olympics – the Nets have also become the first professional club in the North American professional sports league to send blessings to the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In this environment, it is especially rare.
Speaking of Harden, we all know that the team he once played was the best cultural bridge between China and the United States in the sports world.
But that's not his credit alone.
Before Yao Ming, the NBA was a myth for China. Although Wang Zhizhi and Battle have both established themselves there, they are only role players after all.
In 2002, Yao Ming became a champion and went to Houston, where he was more like an ambassador, a window for Americans to understand China than a player.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the China understood by ordinary americans was still Bruce Lee in "Big Brother Tangshan", or Jackie Chan who flew between various furniture, verandas, floors, and helicopters... Of course, there are also the distorted white eyebrows in "Kill Bill", Mulan in "Mulan" who served his father, the raccoon and the turtle in "Kung Fu Panda"...
Yao Ming's image in the United States carries a very oriental color: skill, sense of rhythm, intelligence, slow but dexterous, jokes in front of the camera, intelligent interpersonal relationships, amazing hard work and diligence, skillful and calm.
His plot is also slow and twisty, but full of legends: champion, talented, but also questionable, hard work, all-star, continue to be questioned, become a prominent player, selected for the team of the year, diligently improve body shape, injured, comeback, continue to be injured, continue to comeback.
The setbacks he encountered and his victories over setbacks converged in front of us through the lens and the news bit by bit, giving a twisted story. To some extent, Yao Ming represents this line of thinking: openness, exchange, cultural integration, and mutual acceptance.
Chinese fans are the most nostalgic: so much so that in the years after Yao Ming retired, everyone still likes the team he stayed with.
In 2018, Harden ranked third in jersey sales among NBA players in China. How many people liked him went to the team he was on at the time?
Of course, we know that in 2019, the feelings of Chinese fans for the NBA and the Rockets have almost been ruined by a certain guy.
But in the same year, Cai Chongxin completed the wholly-owned acquisition of the Nets with 1/3 of his own net worth.
Then in early 2021, the Nets smashed a big chip and the trade came to Harden. Pat Evans of Front Office Sports at the time said an interesting point:
The Nets rescued Harden from the Rockets — as Harden, who has a large number of fans in China, it is really not good to continue to stay with the Rockets at that time.
Presumably, this is what Cai Chongxin did, but it was by no means more than that.
After the incident that reduced the relationship between the NBA and Chinese fans to the freezing point, as a Chinese boss, Cai Chongxin's open letter with a clear stance not only made him personally have countless fans in the domestic circle, but more importantly, let American fans and even the league feel the voice and attitude from the Chinese.
"The 1.4 billion Chinese are closely united on issues involving China's territorial integrity and national sovereignty. There is no room for bargaining on this issue. ”
"I hope the league can come out of this incident. As the owner of an NBA team, I will continue to express my views on important issues involving China, and I also ask our Chinese fans to continue to believe in the NBA and basketball, and believe in our strength to unite the people of the world. ”
"As a descendant of Yan Huang who has spent most of my career in China, I have to speak up," Mr. Cai said. After the word "must", you can feel the pressure he was under at that time.
The love for sports and basketball since childhood is the reason why Cai Chongxin explained that he bought the Nets, but another reason, he did not say, but more is doing.
For example, for the vast majority of professional sports clubs, whether it is basketball or football, participating in Chinese festivals, the importance is the huge Chinese market, for Chinese fans.
But the Nets are doing the opposite — it brings the "Chinese New Year" overseas, and it wants more foreigners, through sports, through his basketball, to understand China and love China.
Here's another interesting detail.
Americans like to call the Spring Festival a "lunar new year," and most of the team's players say the same.
But the Brooklyn Nets, from clubs to players, will say Chinese new year: this is a sense of belonging and identification with the Spring Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. It is said that this also comes from Cai Chongxin's insistence, others advised him not to be so "Chinese", but he insisted that he had the pride of Chinese culture in his bones and the heart of a child. Therefore, the Nets will broadcast player admission at home with Chinese, and it is also the first NBA team to play "Cheering china to fight the epidemic" at home, and even let the "Volunteer March" play at the Barclays Center.
The pandemic or other factors are separating the world, but the world still needs to communicate and understand each other. Sports is a natural bridge of folk culture and emotional exchange, and the bridge in Houston, built by Yao Ming, was burned down by themselves; but on the Brooklyn side, it was built again.
Unlike Yao Ming as a player, Tsai Chongxin, who appeared in the NBA as a team investor, represents another oriental face: a low-key, humble successful businessman, but underneath his elegant appearance, he has a passion for sports and basketball fanaticism.
To some extent, the ceremony of celebrating the Year of the Tiger, the blessings of Nash and Harden, and even the words and deeds of Tsai Chongxin are all practical actions to replace the rocket and re-build the bridge between Chinese and American folk sports and culture.
There is no relationship in the world, it will not be destroyed.
But there must always be someone who strives to fight destruction, to rebuild beauty, to rebuild trust.