Miami Heat trumps Los Angeles in China

Reigning NBA champions Miami Heat dispatched the Los Angeles Clippers 94-80 Thursday thanks to 20 points from superstar LeBron James in a pre-season exhibition before a raucous Beijing crowd. The sell-out audience was on its feet as soon as the Heat took the court with James and teammate Dwyane Wade waving to fans in the Wukesong arena where the pair won the 2008 Olympic gold medal for Team USA. The Heat went to work from the start, with James scoring his team's first six points and delighting the crowd with a series of dunks and jumpers to put the champs up 29-18 at the end of the first quarter. Miami kept up the intensity in the second frame despite the game being only an exhibition with centre Chris Bosh anchoring a stingy defense that held the Clippers to just 35 first half points to the Heat's 53. The Clippers closed to 60-47 following six straight points by explosive power forward Blake Griffin midway through the third quarter, but two three-pointers by Miami's newly acquired Ray Allen doused the Clippers hopes of a comeback. Allen finished the night with 15 points on four three pointers, while Griffin led the Clippers with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Jamal Crawford had 16 points for Los Angeles. Wade, who signed a lucrative shoe contract with China's Li Ning brand on Wednesday, scored five points in 23 minutes, despite earlier announcing he would not play due to injury. Basketball is arguably the most popular sport in China where an estimated 300 million people play the game, while the National Basktball Association has done a masterful job of showcasing the sport in the world's most populous nation. Despite the 2011 retirement of iconic former Houston Rocket centre Yao Ming and the return to China this year of former Dallas Maverick forward Yi Jianlian, the NBA remains popular in China despite no home grown players in the globe's top league. The popularity of the sport is also attributed to a growing number of former NBA stars playing in China, led by one time New York Knick Stephon Marbury, who won a Chinese Basketball Association championship with the Beijing Ducks last season. On Wednesday, seven-time NBA all-star Tracy McGrady, who once teamed with Yao in Houston, announced he will play for the CBA's Qingdao Eagles during the coming season.