Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Robert Horry, one of only nine players to have won at least seven National Basketball Association (NBA) championships, is scheduled to visit Taiwan next week for the official launch of the NBA's traditional Chinese character Web site, organizers said Wednesday.
Horry, who collected one more championship ring in his 17-year NBA career (1992-2008) than Michael Jordan, will visit Taiwan from April 14-16 and attend the launching ceremony of the NBA.com/Taiwan Web site, a collaboration of local sports Web site Pixnet and the NBA, Pixnet announced in a statement.
According to Pixnet, basketball-crazy Taiwan at one point ranked third, behind the U.S. and Canada, in visitors to the NBA's official Web site.
One of only three players to win consecutive NBA championships with two different teams -- the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers -- Horry was best known for his clutch three-point shooting in the playoffs, earning him the nickname "Big Shot Bob." The 208-centimeter sweet-shooting forward still holds the record for most career three-pointers made in the NBA Finals and is second on the all-time list for three-pointers made in the playoffs.
Hong Kong-based media company TOM Group Limited signed a four-year deal with the NBA in 2008 for the rights to operate the NBA Web site in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Taiwanese fans complained, however, that the company merely converted text in simplified Chinese characters, used in China, into traditional Chinese characters for the Taiwanese audience, neglecting the differences in basketball terms and the transliteration of player names between Taiwan and China. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls