An overflow crowd of close to 18,000 packed the Smart Araneta Coliseum Saturday night to witness world-class basketball, and the visiting NBA stars made sure they did not go home disappointed.
Mesmerizing their adoring Filipino fans with alley-oop slams and ankle-breaking moves, the team of NBA players, dubbed the Smart All-Stars, easily handled the PBA selection, 131-105, in a game that was a virtual dunk-a-thon.
The outcome of this one was never really in doubt even before opening tip-off, just as it was never really about the final score. It was about such an awesome collection of basketball talent descending upon this basketball-crazy country and putting on a show for hoops fans. Even their opponents, who are basketball stars in their own right here in Manila, were simply star-struck, getting their pictures taken with their idols during warm-ups and timeouts. The referees also couldn't resist, snapping photos of themselves with Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant before tip-off.
It was hard to blame them, of course, because it's not often you get to watch the reigning NBA MVP, reigning scoring champion, reigning alpha dog, and two former Rookies of the Year play on local soil.
But give props to the PBA selection for at least trying. Sensing the crowd would most likely cheer for the visitors, James Yap addressed the fans and, in a sort of lovable way, asked, "Sana naman, suportahan ninyo kami (I hope you cheer for us)," which drew laughter and cheers.
Early on, the local stars gave the crowd something to cheer for, as the starting unit of Yap, Mark Caguioa, Jason Castro, Arwind Santos and Sonny Thoss took a 16-12 lead. Castro showed the visitors a thing or two by stealing the ball from Chris Paul twice in the opening minutes for a pair of breakaway layups, while Santos got going early with eight of his team's first 10 points.
Durant then hit a triple, Bryant slammed it home, and Durant scored on a layup to push the Smart All-Stars ahead, 19-16. A few minutes later, Alex Cabagnot hit a jumper to give the PBA stars what would turn out to be their last lead of the game at 20-19.
The NBA stars took the first quarter, 30-26, behind Durant's nine points. LA Tenorio scored on a nifty drive against Derrick Rose to early in the second to make it 33-28, but the PBA selection wouldn't come any closer after that. Paul set up Bryant for a vicious alley-oop jam with a pass off the backboard that made it 39-32, before Durant hit back-to-back treys to finally give the visitors a double-digit spread at 52-40, with 6:05 left.
With JaVale McGee dunking almost at will and James Harden and Tyreke Evans finding their range from outside, the Smart All-Stars entered the halftime break with a comfortable 66-50 spread. They padded the lead to 22 early in the third at 72-50, punctuated by a Bryant dunk.
A few sequences later, Rose hit a triple and Durant unleashed another slam to pad the lead to 77-52, and at that point the score didn't matter anymore. The crowd wanted more entertaining moves, and the visitors obliged. With 5:45 left in the third, Bryant provided the highlight move of the night, lobbing the ball underhand to the rim to set up Rose for a wicked slam that made it 90-66.
It was 107-78 at the end of the third, and the NBA stars breached the 30-point barrier when McGee completed an alley-oop from Derek Fisher to make it 109-78 early in the fourth. Moments later, McGee, who had been tweeting about wanting to plank during his Manila visit, did exactly that by planking right on the hardcourt after blocking Rabeh Al-Hussaini.
The visitors established their largest lead with 7:00 left after a James Harden triple made it 121-86. Then with the score at 125-99, Paul exacted some measure of revenge against Castro by bouncing the ball between the legs of the Talk 'N Text guard and finishing with a layup.
McGee led the NBA stars with 25 points, while Durant had 22, including 20 in the first half. Derrick Williams and Tyreke Evans chipped in 19 and 17, respectively. Bryant had 12, and despite chants of "Ko-be! Ko-be! Ko-be!" late in the fourth, the Lakers star kept himself on the bench. Fisher was the only NBA player who failed to score.
Santos had 25 for the PBA selection, but he was the only one in double digits. Yap, a prolific shooter, was held scoreless.
The NBA selection next tests the mettle of Smart Gilas Pilipinas today at 1:30PM. Coach Rajko Toroman said his side will treat this as more than an exhibition match, although he conceded that they have amonumental task ahead of them. "You have to understand, these players are from another planet," said the Serbian mentor during the press conference yesterday.
The scores:
Smart All-Stars (131) — McGee 25, Durant 22, Williams 19, Evans 17, Harden 16, Bryant 12, Paul 11, Rose 9, Fisher 0.
PBA All-Stars (105) — Santos 25, Pingris 9, Cabagnot 9, Mercado 8, David 8, Al-Hussaini 8, Norwood 7, Reyes 6, Caguioa 4, Thoss 4, Castro 4, Seigle 4, Intal 4, Fonacier 3, Tenorio 2, Yap 0.
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