Taipei, April 15 (CNA) Robert Horry, an ESPN commentator and retired basketball player who is visiting Taiwan, predicted Thursday that the 2010 NBA Finals will be a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Horry, who earned the nickname "Big Shot Rob" for his clutch three-point shooting in playoffs during his 16-year career, also told the media that he would pick Oklahoma City Thunder young star Kevin Durant as the next great big shot maker.
The 208-centimeter forward, who retired in 2008, is one of only two players to have won NBA championships with three different teams -- two with the Houston Rockets, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the San Antonio Spurs.
Horry was invited to Taiwan to endorse the official launch of the NBA's traditional Chinese character Web site.
The NBA.com/Taiwan Web site, a collaborative effort by the local sports Web site Pixnet and the NBA, will be operated by Pixnet starting this month and will present live Internet streaming of games during the 2010 NBA playoff season from April to June.
Doug Creighton, who played for Bank of Taiwan in Taiwan's Super Basketball League (SBL) , said it will be a great way for Taiwanese basketball fans to learn more about NBA players.
Currently, Taiwan cable television channels broadcast three or four NBA games per week, featuring the more popular teams such as the Lakers, Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.
The 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.
However, Taiwanese fans complained that the company merely converted simplified Chinese text, used in China, into traditional Chinese characters for Taiwanese audiences, in disregard of the differences in Taiwan and China regarding basketball terms and the transliteration of player names.
The NBA playoffs begin Saturday with 16 teams competing in the best-of-seven first round. The best-of-seven finals will be played in June.
Asked about the most memorable big shot of his career, Horry said it would have to be a three-pointer at the buzzer that gave the Lakers a 100–99 win over the Sacramento Kings in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. The shot tied the series at 2-2 and the Lakers went on to defeat the Kings in the seven-game series to take their third straight championship.
The 39-year-old veteran, who is on his first visit to Taiwan, told the media that he was very impressed by the local people's knowledge of basketball and with the Taipei 101 tower, which he said is "like a Transformer every time I look at it." Prompted by reporters, Horry picked his "best starting lineup of today's NBA, " which included himself, Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams, Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant, Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki and Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal.
Horry jokingly said that as both Bryant and Nowitzki like to shoot, he would select the veteran O'Neal as center so "I could get some shots." (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc