Pacers, Rockets face off tonight

Pinoys to relish historic Global Games

MANILA, Philippines - It’s been billed as an NBA pre-season game but there’s a lot of historical trimmings in the league’s mission to go global and reach as many international audiences, including Filipinos with unwavering love for basketball.

It’s the NBA Global Games tonight and Pinoy fans are ready to show that passion for the game which gave the NBA stars a liberal dose since the day they hit this hotbed of the sport this side of the globe.

The Indiana Pacers and the Houston Rockets finally come face-to-face in the first-ever NBA Global Games Philippines 2013 at 7 tonight in a clash of top caliber NBA teams. It may just be a pre-season game, but coaches of both teams have assured the fans of an explosive, no-holds-barred showdown, guaranteeing an action-packed duel at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

NBA commissioner David Stern arrived yesterday and will hold a press conference over an hour before gametime to talk on the league’s ambitious globalization program.

The Pacers and the Rockets have been in the country since Monday and are eager to show their wares before Filipino cage fans who have been looking forward to this event with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.

“Definitely we’ll go out there to show the fans what Pacers basketball is all about. Of course we’ll explore some plays and combinations but we will go out there the way we always do, which is to try and win the game,” said Indiana coach Frank Vogel.

Houston coach Kevin McHale agrees.

“We will give a full-hearted effort, that’s for sure,” said McHale, who was also part of the fabled Boston Celtics dynasty of the 80s.

The Pacers, who came one win closer to dethroning the back-to-back champion Miami Heat, will parade a mix of All-stars in Paul George, Roy Hibbert, Danny Granger, David West and Luis Scola, some emerging stars in George Hill and Lance Stephenson and a veteran in CJ Watson.

The Rockets, for their part, will be led by newly acquired Dwight Howard, James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Asian sensation Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, among others. 

Hibbert, the 7-foot-2 five-year veteran who will be the main source of inside strength of the Pacers this coming season, said he’s looking forward to an interesting showdown with Howard.

“He’s a great player. I’m looking forward to my play against him. Don’t worry about me, I will go hard,” he said.

Vogel and the whole Indiana team also joined the NBA Cares program with Special Olympics Philippines, a group of special kids, right before their practice at the MOA Arena yesterday. 

“This is a special program we had with the NBA. We really want to touch children’s lives,” said Vogel. 

“It’s a great opportunity to be able to affect a few people because little that they don’t know, we also draw strength for them” said West, the elder statesman of the Pacers. “We want to make sure that somehow, we made them feel good through basketball.”

Later in the afternoon, Parsons, a 6-9 forward who will start for Houston for the second straight season, joined Ron Porter when they conducted a clinic for Aurora Quezon Elementary School students in Malate, Manila.

“Had a blast coaching kids at the local Manila school. Amazing,” said Parsons via his Twitter account @Chandler Parsons.