MVP: NBA stars due for Gilas tuneup

MANILA, Philippines - Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan yesterday announced that PLDT Home will bring in  several NBA superstars, headed by the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin, Portland Trailblazers’ Damian Lillard, Brooklyn Nets’ Paul Pierce and the Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan in a charity game with Gilas Pilipinas next month.

Pangilinan, also the PLDT chairman and a long time sports patron, took to social networking site Twitter to make the announcement.

“Happy to announce that PLDT HOME will bring in the biggest basketball charity event ever! Blake, Damien, Truth, Demar in #GilasLastHOMEStand,” said MVP on his Twitter account @iamMVP where he has about 70,000 followers.

MVP was referring to Blake as Blake Griffin, Damien as Damian Lillard, Truth as Paul Pierce and DeMar as DeMar DeRozan, who have all agreed to play in a charity event with FIBA World Cup-bound Gilas Pilipinas dubbed as “The Last HOME Stand” set July 22-23 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

PLDT HOME, which has staged a number of big events in the country, is bankrolling the fund-raiser.

“This is a fitting send-off for Gilas as they defend the Philippine flag at the 2014 FIBA World Cup. This is our grand comeback to the world stage, so having a special pick-up game with a powerhouse cast of players will definitely rally the spirits of Filipinos and inspire the boys to play harder,” said Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes.

This will mark the second time that MVP will be bringing in NBA stars after hosting Kobe Bryant, reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Derek Fisher, Derrick Williams and JaVale McGee in the Smart Ultimate All-Star Weekend three years ago.

“It is important for PLDT HOME to be represented in the world of sports as it continues to resonate with parallelisms to real life,” said PLDT executive vice president and head of Home Business Ariel Fermin. 

“As an illustration, the values of the game – togetherness, celebration, sacrifice are also true for a family that aspires to achieve a common ambition. 

“Sports inspire family members to achieve more and move as one. And this is what we do for our national team, Gilas. We give them unwavering support from one home team to another to get as far,” he added.

Reyes said the pair of games should be a good tune up for Gilas before they leave for Miami, Florida where they will join naturalized Andray Blatche from July 25 to Aug. 8 for another series of games before heading to the FIBA World Cup slated Aug. 30 to Sept. 14 in Spain.

Tickets to The Last HOME Stand game are pegged starting at P750. For details, log on to lasthomestand.pldthome.com.