MANILA, Philippines – Gabe Norwood’s roaring poster dunk on Argentina legend Luis Scola during the 2014 FIBA World Cup advanced to the second round of the Asia-Oceania zone after a three-day voting in the historic FIBA Dunk of the Decade online bracket over the weekend.
Buoyed by a strong online support from passionate Filipino fans, the Gilas Pilipinas veteran scored a whopping 83. 73% win over Australia’s Mitch Creek (16.2%) in the opening round to progress to the next stage of the first-ever Dunk of the Decade search by the world basketball governing body.
Norwood will face-off in the next round against China’s Yi Jianlian, who bested New Zealand’s Finn Delany in a close tiff.
After another three days of voting, the winner will meet the survivor of Japan’s Rui Hachimura and Iran’s Arsalan Kazemi for the Asia-Oceania dunk crown and the right to clash with winners from Africa, America and Europe zones for the FIBA Dunk of the Decade title.
Though Scola and Argentina went on to beat Gilas in that game, 85-81, he was on the receiving end of the Norwood’s nasty one-handed jam that came from a perfect bounce pass from Jayson Castro in the opening period.
That play capped off a rousing start for the Philippines for a 19-12 lead over the basketball powerhouse before the Nationals’ eventual end-game collapse like their tough losses against Croatia (81-78), Puerto Rico (77-73) and Greece (80-72).
Norwood and Gilas though came through with a thrilling 81-79 win in overtime against Senegal to still cap off a magnificent return to the world basketball stage after more than three decades.
In case Norwood goes on to win it all and grab the FIBA Dunk of the Decade title with that immortal 2014 poster, it will be an even World Cup to remember for him and the rest of the Nationals.