Lantern Festival fun helps light up All-Star showcase for the whole world
LeBron, Giannis and KD weren’t the only bright lights during NBA All-Star Weekend as the league capitalized on the showcase’s proximity to Lantern Festival to further woo Chinese fans at home and abroad.
Today marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations, with the NBA and its business partners seizing the opportunity to reach out to the league’s biggest overseas market throughout the Chinese holiday period.
In the game’s host city of Charlotte, North Carolina, the “All-Star Chinese New Year Experience Hall”, organized in conjunction with Chinese brand Master Kong Ice Tea, was the culmination of those efforts.
On Saturday, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers was the first All-Star to sample the delights of the hall, along with Chinese actor Zhang Zhehan.
Under the watchful eye of a chef, Lillard and Zhang squared off to find out who was the best maker of
— traditional Chinese sweet dumplings — even creating some ice tea-flavored versions of the traditional festival snack.
The 28-year-old Lillard, a fourtime NBA All-Star, also got into the holiday spirit by attempting to solve Chinese lantern riddles and trying his hand at the intricate art of paper cutting.
Later, he made the occasion a real cultural exchange by teaching Zhang some hoops skills.
“What has a net but can’t catch? Oh! It’s a basket,” said Lillard, who clearly enjoyed the riddle challenge — an essential element of the Lantern Festival.
The Master Kong Ice Tea slogan is “Cool ice fires your power and excitement” — but the company has been nothing but warm-hearted when it comes to spreading Chinese culture around the world.
This marks the second year that Master Kong Ice Tea has promoted traditional Chinese culture via NBA stars. The company also created a Lillard-themed ice tea bottle and sent a warm New Year welcome to Chinese all over the world through a giant digital screen in New York’s Times Square.
NBA clubs have been celebrating the Chinese New Year since Jan 30, with a record 15 teams hosting in-arena activities and 65 games broadcast live in China.
Earlier this month, the New York Knicks staged a Lunar New Year celebration on the night of a game against the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden.
The China Night event featured in-game elements, merchandise, cultural presentations and on-court dragon and lion dances during halftime.
Spectators were also treated to giveaways, including red envelopes — a traditional Chinese New Year gift symbolizing good fortune — and pig dolls to commemorate the Year of the Pig. One spectator won $600 during a game called ‘Name the Pig’.
It marked the second straight year the Knicks celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year.
Elsewhere, the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted a New Year celebration during a game against the Boston Celtics, with Quicken Loans Arena decked out in red and gold and a Chinese acrobatics duo performing for the crowd at halftime.
The NBA is keen to optimize the Chinese market, with the league’s deputy commissioner, Mark Tatum, valuing NBA China at over $4 billion in a interview last year.
The NBA has also invested in over 200 lifestyle apparel stores, three NBA play zones and three basketball academies in China.
The National Football League also took advantage of the Year of the Pig, using players to deliver messages in Mandarin to plug the Super Bowl earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Sunday’s 68th AllStar Game proved to be the shootout everyone expected, with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James leading his team to a 178-164 triumph over Team Giannis, captained by Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Team Giannis raced to a 53-37 lead in the first quarter, which featured a combined 28 points on 12-for-13 shooting from Bucks teammates Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. But Team LeBron started to call the shots in the second half.
Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant led Team LeBron with 31 points on 10-for-15 shooting, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter en route to winning the All-Star MVP award.
James had 19 points, while the Warriors’ Klay Thompson added 20 for Team LeBron.
Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 38 points on 17-for-23 shooting and he also snagged 11 rebounds.