Lakers-Nets series in China ends — with no geopolitical controversy

The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets are heading home from China, their roles as unwitting participants in a geopolitical drama that neither team had any role in starting or escalating now over.

The Nets beat the Lakers 91-77 in Shenzhen, China on Saturday, capping a two-game preseason series in China that was overshadowed by the fallout in the country from a tweet on the protests in Hong Kong by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. The league has played preseason games in China every year since 2007, with the exception of the lockout-shortened season in 2011. Now it’s unclear if the fractured relationship can be mended for the series to continue next year.

“The guys went over there to play and they don’t want to let those fans down that want to see them play,” National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said in an interview from New York between the two games. “It’s totally not what anyone expected, but they were there and prepared to play.”

So they played. Saturday’s game had a feel very similar to Thursday in Shanghai, when Chinese officials did not permit the teams and NBA commissioner Adam Silver to hold pregame or postgame media sessions inside the arena. This time, it was the call of the NBA and the teams to not hold news conferences — a decision made without consulting the Chinese, and it wasn’t clear if government officials would have slapped the same restrictions on the NBA for the matchup in Shenzhen anyway.

There were posts on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo suggesting fans boycott the game, though that apparently did not materialize. Many fans arrived in Shenzhen wearing jerseys, though some taped over the NBA logo in a show of protest.