CLEVELAND, the United States, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- NBA powerhouse the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday evening held their third annual Chinese New Year celebration since 2016 during a special-themed home game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Gift-filled red envelopes, signages, LED screens and T-shirts carrying greetings in Chinese characters, Chinese New Year snacks, halftime Chinese acrobatic performance and cultural displays added a unique touch of festivity and cultural diversity to the game, which kicked off at 7 p.m. EST in the Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
The Chinese New Year is "observed as a time for family and friends to be together," and the special presentation on Tuesday aims to "reflect the history and culture of a country that is the home to many passionate NBA fans," the Cavs said on their official website.
The Tuesday game was also part of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s league-wide Chinese New Year celebrations, which were first introduced seven years ago and are running from Feb. 2 to March 3 this season.
According to an earlier announcement by the NBA, the month-long extravaganza will see a record number of 12 league teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and New York Knicks, ushering in the Year of the Dog with special games or events at their home arenas.
Amid cheers and applause from some 20,000 fans, the Cavs beat the visiting team 129-123.
For many local fans, this could even be a very good sign for the whole season. In 2016, when the Cavs had their first-ever Chinese New Year celebration, the team went on to win its first-ever league championship, coming back miraculously from a 1-3 deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in the best-of-7 finals.
Tuesday's game was sponsored by business and community organizations from both China and the United States, including the Chinese Internet and tech giant Tencent and telecom giant ZTE, as well as the Ohio-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and the Ohio Council of Community Schools.
With an increasing number of Chinese businesses coming to the United States to invest and operate in the past decade, Chinese sponsorship of leading American sports leagues is also growing rapidly.
"Basketball is a sport that is very popular both in China and the United States, and can serve as a bridge to share our cultures and traditions with each other," Cheng Lixin, CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices, told Xinhua.
ZTE, which has been operating in the United States for some 20 years, is currently sponsoring four NBA teams.
The NBA is now the most followed international sports league in China online, seven times more discussed and with five times more followers than the top three European soccer leagues combined, according to a report by digital sports marketing company Mailman.
The 2017 NBA Finals attracted nearly 200 million viewers from China on mobile devices alone. NBA's account on the Chinese social media platform Weibo has over 33 million followers, six million more than its Twitter account.
Chinese New Year, or the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar also known as the Spring Festival, fell on Feb. 16 this year.
