Houston Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin (7) lays in a basket in on a fast break against the Dallas Mavericks during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Sunday, March 3, 2013, in Houston. AP FILE PHOTO
LOS ANGELES — Jeremy Lin and the Houston Rockets will play the Indiana Pacers in Manila this October, the National Basketball Association has said.
The match set on October 10 will kick off the NBA’s Asian series of exhibition games that will also have Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers play two games in China against the Golden State Warriors, beginning with an October 15 contest at the MasterCard Center arena and in Shanghai at the Mercedes-Benz Arena three days later.
Aside from Manila, the Rockets will also play in Taiwan where they will again face the Pacers on October 13 at the Taipei Arena, the NBA said.
It has been just over a year since “Linsanity” gripped New York Knicks fans and propelled break-out star Lin to global fame. But nowhere is the point guard more popular than in Taiwan.
Lin Shu-hao, who was born in Los Angeles, is the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA.
His parents, Lin Gie-ming and Shirley Lin, emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the mid-1970s and are dual nationals of Taiwan and the United States.
Bryant’s Lakers will be playing for the first time in China. Five-time NBA champion Bryant has been co-authoring a blog in Chinese for several years.
In February, Bryant joined the Twitter-like Chinese micro-blogging site Sina Weibo, getting thousands of followers in just the first few hours.
“We look forward to the opportunity to play in front our Chinese fans,” said Lakers vice president of business operations Tim Harris. “The Lakers are happy to continue to be a part of the NBA’s efforts to expand its global reach.”
The Lakers/Warriors and Rockets/Pacers games highlight a total of eight NBA overseas games in October.
They are joined by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls in the NBA global games schedule.
The Thunder will play October 5 against Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul and on October 8 against the 76ers in Manchester, England. The Sixers also play against Uxue Bilbao Basket in Bilbao, Spain, on October 6. The Bulls and the Wizards face off in Rio de Janeiro on October 12.
The NBA has staged 138 pre-season and regular-season games in 19 countries and territories across Europe, the Americas and Asia since 1978.