Rockwell's ads, displayed in waist-high Mandarin characters, are jarring enough to make local fans wonder where in the world the Bucks are playing. After all, the ads are directed at sports bars in Shanghai and factory dormitories in Guangdong.

The Bucks charge sums into six figures for what amounts to at least one cumulative minute of exposure to some 150 million Chinese per game.

"We're doing this solely to target our Chinese customers," said Rockwell spokesman John Bernaden.

This story comes just as the NBA finalized an initial $253 million investment in NBA China. ESPN, Bank of China Group Investment, Legend Holdings Limited, Li Ka Shing Foundation and China Merchants Investments now own 11% of the new venture, validating all the recent talk that NBA China could be worth over $2 billion.

"We've had some good times the last couple of days," Redd said. "We got a big win in Charlotte, then we went out the next day as a group and had some good times. We did some bowling, played some pool, and just rode our momentum and got some good vibes running through the team. Then we went out in Philly and played really well again.

"I wasn't over bowling a lot, but I heard everybody did well. I was playing pool. I ran the pool table, and nobody could beat me. I won like seven straight games. All of the guys and even the coaches played. It was just good for our team and our chemistry to get out and do something."