Ten years of streetball

Today, the tenth edition of the adidas Streetball National Finals opens at the Filinvest Mall in Alabang. Champion teams from the National Capital Region, Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao will square off for bragging rights. The ladies and seniors champions (19 years old and below) will have an additional incentive: representing the country in the Asian Streetball Finals to be held at the Araneta Center on Sept. 3 and a chance to meet the brand’s top endorsers from the NBA, led by Houston Rockets All-Star Tracy McGrady.

It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since the very first adidas Streetball Challenge opened at the Quezon Memorial Circle in 1996. The specially designed courts, made by Porter, were arranged in a circle at the foot of the Quezon monument. I recall having to climb the spiral staircase inside one of the monolith’s legs (660 steps in all) to get a good shot from the top. The view was spectacular.

In 1997, there were several innovations. First, the tournament opened in front of the Quirino grandstand. Secondly, the patented plastic flooring used for the main court arrived as we hit Cagayan de Oro. The giant jigsaw puzzle came straight from Germany in two crates, without any instructions. Tournament officials spent a full day trying to decipher the design. We weren’t even sure if the differently colored three-second area was a trapezoid or a rectangle. It was a hilarious experience. It was also the first time I got sunburned on the back of my neck.

1997 was also the first time Baguio City won a national basketball championship. The hosts of that year’s finals defeated a strong Ateneo de Manila squad, which included Red Bull’s Enrico Villanueva and FedEx’s Wesley Gonzales. They lost by a point in the last few seconds of a rained-out title game.

In 1998, coaching was allowed for the first time. Originally, players were on their own. It was also when a young NBA player named Kobe Bryant first came to the Philippines, and was so curious about his surroundings that he eluded his security personnel and waltzed into a mall in Makati, where he was eventually mobbed by fans. In 2000, an even younger guard, also straight from high school, arrived for our first hosting of the Asian Finals. Tracy McGrady was just giving us an inkling of his capabilities back then, accompanied by Tim Thomas.

In the last few years, success after success has followed Streetball champions. The Philippines has produced an Asian seniors champion (University of the Visayas Green Lancers), and an Asian girls champion (University of Santo Tomas. Not bad, considering we used to send players to the World Streetball Finals, until continents started doing things on their own. In 2002, the UV Lancers coached by Boy Cabahug also got a free trip to the US as a reward for beating China for regional supremacy.Last night, adidas also honored its Streetball Mythical Team at a welcome dinner for this year’s finalists.

BJ Manalo played in the first edition of the games in 1996, until he was called to be part of the Philippine youth team. Even then, he showed great promise, before becoming a part of high school UAAP title winners with Ateneo and college championships with De La Salle.

Enrico Villanueva was the first player to dunk in a Philippine Streetball playoff game, thundering down a two-handed reverse jam in the Metro Manila finals in 1997. Villanueva and company, then still in high school, beat a more experienced UST college team bannered by future pro Gerard Francisco in the semifinals.

Wesley Gonzales was a teammate of Villanueva’s on that runner-up squad in ‘97. Then, he also flashed signs of a great future in the game, gunning down the jumper from the wings and the occasional slash to the rack.

PJ Simon was months removed from his teens when he joined the Davao Eagles, and became a sensation, earning the Metropolitan Basketball Association’s Discovery of the Year Award. A veteran of the tough Davao regionals, Simon was discovered by the Purefoods Hotdogs before, but picked up after his explosion in the MBA. Just to give you an idea of how difficult it is to survive Davao, at one point, the Mindanao eliminations there had 450 teams. Considering it was just a two-day event, you can imagine how hard it was to win.

JR Quiñahan, meanwhile, romped through the competition in 2002. This was before we saw "Baby Shaq" in the Philippine Basketball League in a Granny Goose uniform. The UV Green Lancers were unstoppable with Quiñahan in the paint, and he more or less still is an immovable object in the post. He is the fifth adidas Streetball honoree.

There were others who joined in the fray in setting up three-on-three tournaments. But they’re all gone now, so adidas Streetball is the only remaining venue for street basketball players to show their stuff. The games have been played in the sweltering heat of reclamation areas, parking lots, city streets, and air-conditioned malls. Games have been decided by shoot-outs and last-second shots. It is a continuation of our discovery of the game, from back at the turn of the 1900’s, when our great-grandfathers played the game. The intensity has never diminished. And that’s what makes street basketball special.

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The Basketball Show will be aired on Monday at 8:30 p.m. over IBC-13.