Welcome to Philippine Basketball dot NET

[Mayor]

Passion. Perseverance. Teamwork. Triumphs and Defeats. Introduced by the Americans in the early 1900s, basketball remains to be the most popular and engaging sport in the country. In every streets and corner, shooting rinks are installed in the light posts or sturdy trees. Filipinos’ fondness for basketball is quite evident in the number of leagues and teams in every barangay. Countless basketball tournaments are also held particularly among offices, villages, or puroks. Even the high school and college basketballs are important events people look forward to. Indeed, we all love the sport. We play it either one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three, so forth. The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) usually comes to mind when discussing Philippine Basketball. The PBA is the professional basketball league in the country. It was founded in 1975, thereby making it the oldest professional basketball league in Asia.

The first ten years of PBA was marked by intense rivalry between the Crispa Redmanizes and Toyota Tamaraws. Following its disbandment in 1984, a new team caught the attention of the populace. The Ginebra San Miguel headed by Robert Jaworski became renowned for its “never say die” mentality. It fought against the Tanduay Rhum Masters of Ramon Hernandez; Purefoods of Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codinera and Jojo Lastimosa.

Aside from showing their prowess within the local arena, the Filipino basketball players awed the world. In the 1990 Asian Games, the first all-pro squad garnered a second place in the basketball championship up against China. Until now, the Philippines continue to participate in the Asian games and anxious to get a hand of that elusive gold medal. Philippines also dominate the Far Eastern Games, Southeast Asian Games and FIBA Asia Championships.
Philippine basketball also has its fair share of highs and lows. In the late 1990s, controversy struck PBA after a number of expatriate cagers arrived in the country. There has been a tumultuous debate on their nationality, resulting to the deportment of some due to falsification of documents. Another pro-league was formed in 1998. This is the Metropolitan Basketball Association which later folded and demised. During such time, there has been a significant decrease in the popularity of the sport. Less people are coming to the Cuneta Astrodome to watch PBA games.

The league regained its popularity by 2004, partly due to Barangay Ginebra’s run through three PBA championships under the leadership of Menk and Mark Caguioa. The arrival of the UAAP and NCAA players also contributed a renewed interest on PBA. It would be expected that Philippine basketball will remain to be a reservoir of excitement, drama and controversy. Proving yet again why Filipinos love the sport.