Reigning NBA champions Miami Heat dispatched the Los Angeles Clippers 94-80 on Thursday thanks to 20 points from superstar LeBron James in a pre-season exhibition before a raucous Beijing crowd.
The sell-out audience of 18,000 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 fans were great tonight, they were amazing,” James, last season’s NBA most-valuable-player, told reporters.
“We spent quite a lot of energy out there... it is always fun when you are in front of a lot of passionate and exciting fans.”
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 defence 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.