Norwood jam still in fight for FIBA’s best

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas bet Gabe Norwood punched his way to the Asia-Oceania finale of the FIBA Dunk of the Decade online poll following a second-round landslide victory over China’s Yi Jianlian.

With his famed towering one-handed jam over Luis Scola during the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, Norwood tallied 77 percent to roll over the Chinese slotman, who wound up with only 23 percent of the votes after three days.

Norwood thus arranged a gigantic Asia-Oceania finals match-up with Iranian center Arsalan Kazemi, whose smashing slam in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament got the nod over Rui Hachimura’s jam during the 2019 FIBA World Cup versus USA, in their own tussle.

Kazemi scored 56 percent over Hachimura’s 44 percent for a fitting follow-up to his first-round win over Lebanon’s Norvel Pelle.

The Rain or Shine Fil-Am ace, meanwhile, previously bested Australia’s Mitch Creek in the opening round of the 32-man search for the FIBA Dunk of the Decade.

Norwood and Kazemi will battle it out in a longer four-day poll this time for the Asian title and the rights to advance to the semifinals of the full-bracket also featuring winners from FIBA Americas, Europe and Africa.

Meeting in the finales of other FIBA zones are Brazil’s Rafael Mineiro and Mexico’s Juan Toscano for the Americas title, Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Latvia’s Kristaps Porzingis for the European crown and Senegal’s Maurice Ndour versus Angola’s Carlos Morais for the African trophy.

The popular dunk of Norwood over the NBA veteran and Argentinian legend Scola was the highlight of the Philippines’ FIBA World Cup return after more than three decades.