Opinion | Right Field: Demographics and history are reasons Golden State appeals to Asian fans

Finally, the Chinese have a basketball team they can be proud of again. No, not the men's national team, who have been a force in Asia but a farce outside the continent. And not the Houston Rockets, who, thanks to the towering talent and charisma of Yao Ming, gave Chinese their basketball Jones. Yao has been retired now for almost four years and, really, Houston, Texas? I know they have a Chinatown, but less than 5 per cent of Houston's population is Asian, not exactly a Chinese hotbed.

Well say ni hao, China, to the new love of your life, the Golden State Warriors. Last week, the Warriors unveiled their first Lunar New Year uniforms, which they will wear for three games during upcoming celebrations for the Year of the Goat.

Yes, the Warriors want your lucky money, and why not? The uniforms are most certainly a marketing gimmick and the Rockets announced they will also be sporting special edition Lunar New Year uniforms in a race for mainland dollars. Still, the Warriors can rightfully claim their uniforms are an homage to their home region's local ancestry. At the uniform unveiling, San Francisco mayor Ed Lee, whose parents hail from Guangdong, was beaming from ear to ear.

Of the nearly eight million people in the Bay Area, 25 per cent are Asian, with the majority of those Chinese. San Francisco's Chinatown is one of the biggest and most famous Chinatowns in the world and let's not forget that Orson Welles' film noir classic The Lady From Shanghai was filmed in San Francisco as well. And if all that is not enough to make those of you of Chinese descent a Warriors fan, there is the team itself. The Warriors are not just good, they are damn good. At the halfway point of the NBA season, their record stood at 35 wins and six losses with a 19-game home winning streak that was snapped by the Chicago Bulls last week.

Playing in the powerful Western Conference, the high-flying Warriors have been destroying the opposition with an irresistibly entertaining brand of basketball. Led by young superstar guard Stephen Curry, the team have been up-tempo since the get-go and feature a deep and unselfish roster. They play team basketball as it was meant to be played with outstanding ball rotation and movement on both offence and defence. In Curry, they have a face for their franchise who is not only talented, but unfailingly decent and pleasant.

Their home arena in Oakland has long been one of the most ravenous and fun pits in the NBA. There are also plans afoot for the team to move into a shiny new bay-front arena in San Francisco not far from where baseball World Series champions the Giants have sold out the last 327 games at their 42,000-seat stadium.