Basketball is a huge sport in the Phillipines. Massive. There is no larger sport for Filipinos.

The NBA is gradually realising that they could be cashing-in on this popularity. On December 5, the Los Angeles Clippers will host Filipino Hoops Heritage Night, when the Clips host the Indiana Pacers. The event is presented by Raymond Townsend, "the first and only Filipino-American to play in the NBA," where he toiled for both the Pacers and the Golden State Warriors.

The event will include a range of Filipino entertainment, as per the official website. The only thing I would question, is whether it would have been possible to schedule this night when the Miami Heat came to town, featuring coach Erik Spoelstra -- the first Filipino-American head coach of any North American professional sports team.

Here Townsend talks about the event and what Filipino community means to him.

UPDATE: SanFran from the great Raptors blog, HoopHeadsNorth passed on this video in the comments, about Erik Spoelstra.

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Comments (3)

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written by Sean Francois, November 30, 2009

Mookie,

My fellow co-bloggers, Romy & U-E, got to take in a Filipino Night that the Toronto Raptors put on last Friday night when the Heat were in Toronto.

Here's a good video piece RaptorsNBATV did on Erik Spoelstra and his Filipino heritage:

http://www.nba.com/raptors/video/2009/11/26/RNXL091124FEATURE4B16x9flv-1137109/index.html

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Nice!
written by mookie @ ASternWarning, November 30, 2009

Thanks for the info, SF. Now updated above!

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Thanks
written by eric menk, November 30, 2009

we need to have more press on filipino links to the NBA!

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