Fil-Am coach pays tribute to Heat’s heart

MIAMI — There’s a Filipino-American sitting on the Miami Heat bench in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals and his biggest regret is declining an offer to play in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Erik Celino Spoelstra, 35, is on his 11th season with the Heat franchise and fifth in his role of assistant coach/director of scouting. He began working for the team as a video coordinator in charge of preparing scouting tapes and heading the information technology department of the coaching staff in 1995. Spoelstra also served as assistant coach/advance scout for two years.

Spoelstra’s Irish-Dutch father Jon was a long-time NBA executive involved with the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets. His grandfather Watson was a Detroit Tigers beat writer. His mother Fe Celino is from San Pablo, Laguna.

Born in Portland, Spoelstra said he’s been to the Philippines only once.

"I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve visited the Philippines only when I was three years old," said Spoelstra. "I’m definitely planning to go again. I have lots of relatives who live just outside Manila. I’m hoping that someday soon, I’ll be able to visit and maybe, do some coaching clinics so I can share whatever I know about basketball."

Spoelstra said he’s aware of how basketball is loved by Filipinos.

"I know about the PBA," continued Spoelstra, a bachelor. "I know Billy Ray Bates played there. Jim Kelly invited me to play in the PBA some years ago and I think it was for the Coca-Cola team. I would’ve been eligible to play as a local."

Kelly coached in Germany, where Spoelstra played as an import for two years, and was a PBA coaching consultant before joining the Toronto Raptors. Kelly is married to a Filipina.

Spoelstra was the starting point guard for the University of Portland for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists. He was named the conference Freshman of the Year and graduated in 1992 with a degree in communications.

"After college, I wanted to see the world and play ball," said Spoelstra. "Germany was my first stop. And I planned to play in other countries, including the Philippines."

Spoelstra was exposed to coaching in the German league as a playing coach for the Tus Herten club. When he returned to the US from Germany, Spoelstra was hired by the Heat and retires as a player.

Among his responsibilities with the Heat are supervising the team’s summer development program and working extensively with Miami’s perimeter players. He was cited by Sports Illustrated (May 30, 2005) for his work in honing star guard Dwyane Wade’s shooting balance and smoothing out his release after the Flash’s return from the Athens Olympics. Spoelstra said working with coach Pat Riley and predecessor Stan Van Gundy has been an awesome learning experience.

"It’s basically the same system we’re using with coach Pat that coach Stan started," said Spoelstra. "They’re both excellent coaches. Pat is a great motivator, very creative and prepares extremely well for a game."

Spoelstra said this year’s Heat squad is special because the players never give up.

"We’ve had games where we’ve come back from double digit deficits in the fourth period to win so in Game 3, I wasn’t surprised we did what we did," said Spoelstra. "This team has a lot of heart."

Spoelstra said with 1.4 seconds to go in last Tuesday’s cliffhanger, Wade didn’t deliberately miss the second of two free throws and explained why Riley benched Shaquille O’Neal in the last 1:03 minutes.

"Dallas had a small lineup on the floor with Dirk (Nowitzki) playing the five position so we thought of putting in a quicker guy in the middle," said Spoelstra.

The gamble almost didn’t pay off. Nowitzki attacked the rim with 1.4 seconds left and Miami on top, 97-95. There was no O’Neal to intimidate Nowitzki. Udonis Haslem fouled Nowitzki who sank his first charity but flubbed the second. Wade got the rebound, was fouled by Nowitzki and converted 1-of-2 free throws. Josh Howard pulled down the rebound off Wade’s miss from the line and Dallas coach Avery Johnson called a timeout with 1.0 second to go.

Nowitzki inbounded and tried to alley-oop it to Howard in a catch-and-shoot situation but Wade deflected the ball, preserving Miami’s two-point lead.

Spoelstra said the Heat will go all out to tie the series in Game 4 this morning (Manila time) and ensure at least a Game 6 in Dallas.