A crowd of 11,317 watched the Brooklyn Nets beat the Phoenix Suns 111–109 on Sunday at the Venetian Arena, avenging Friday’s 132–127 defeat in the first of two pre-season games held in the city.
The victory thrilled 10-year-old Pang, who proudly wore a Nets cap. “It was so cool! When I grow up I want to be a player too,” the Macau-born youngster told Lusa.
It was a dream weekend for Pang and many other local youngsters, who on Saturday trained with NBA legends including Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Jeremy Lin and China’s Yao Ming.
Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said he was happy with his team’s resilience after the comeback win, and said he had learnt from the two games what his team needed to do better this season.
“The biggest takeaway is that we have to be better at handling physicality,” the Spaniard said. “It’s a little bit of an up and down game. They punched, we responded. They punched, we responded.”
Suns head coach Jordan Ott believed the pre-season trip had helped his team bond as a group.
“There are a lot of new faces on the roster,” Ott said. “So I think the time spent together, whether it’s in the plane or in the hotel, I think that has been very, very beneficial for us.”
Macau is already gearing up for next year’s NBA pre-season games.
Dallas Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont, who is also president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, which runs The Venetian, told the South China Morning Post a heavyweight Texas derby would take place in Macau in 2026, with the Dallas Mavericks facing the Houston Rockets.