Carmelo Anthony rained in 45 points to give the Denver Nuggets a 128-112 win over the Indiana Pacers in an NBA exhibition game in Beijing Sunday. While the Nuggets' victory was assured well before the final buzzer, the near sellout crowd of some 15,000 remained enthusiastic to the end, a testament to the NBA's goal of building global support while the league suffers declining revenues in the US. The two teams played in Taipei three days earlier, with the Pacers coming out on top 126-104. “After the game in Taiwan ... we really wanted to come back and kind of redeem myself,” said Anthony, who was returning to the same Wukesong Arena where he helped the US team win gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “Tonight was just one of the nights I had it going - shots were falling, and playing defensively as a team. What better place to do it than here in Beijing where I got a gold medal last year.” The NBA is hugely popular in China and is the league's most important market outside the US. The league has also scheduled overseas exhibition games in Spain, London and Mexico. Before the game, the NBA and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced an agreement to exchange coaches, trainers and nutritionists as a way of fostering their relationship and improving the level of basketball in China. The NBA said it had put off discussions with Chinese sports authorities to set up a jointly
