EVERYONE loves basketball in the Philippines. Nobody is exempted from being a basketball crazy fan who believes he can ball. With that in mind the National Basketball Association organized the NBA 3X Philippines tournament of three-on-three matchups which included virtually everyone who wanted to see how well he can play the game.
Team Yan won the Celebrity Division by beating three-time champion Team Alcaraz led by actor Marco Alcaraz.
Members include American born Filipino footballer and long-time captain of the Philippine national Azkals team Aly Borromeo, commercial model and male pageant winner June Macasaet, three-time NBA 3X slam dunk champion and TV and broadcast personality Bobby Yan host of the popular TV program Swak na Swak (formerly known as Kabuhayang Swak na Swak which features ways, means and techniques of how to start, set up and maintain a business enterprise).
Other personalities who saw action in this division included running guru Rio de la Cruz, PBA Legend Alvin Patrimonio, ex-PBA players and collegiate stars Vince Hizon, Christian Luanzon and Derick Hubalde, musicians Yael Yuzon and Mong Alcaraz, and media personalities TJ Manotoc, Mark Zambrano, Nikko Ramos, and Marco Benitez.
EGS-Elite won its fourth consecutive NBA 3X Philippines title.
“We have been looking forward to this tournament all year and have kept ourselves active ever since to play well on this stage. NBA 3X has inspired us to work harder on improving our skills and chemistry for future competitions,” said Ian Garrido, who together with playing coach Rocky Acidre, Rutger Acidre and Mark Anthony Dolimon, aced their fourth appearance in the tournament with solid rebounding, consistent outside shooting and strong defensive play.
Team Jacob Liit topped the Under-16 Boys Division, and BRODIAC, headlined by Kenjie Duremdes and National University standout Rhayyan Amsali grabbed the Under-18 Boys category. In the Girls Division, Balon Dagupan A won the Under-16 crown while National Uni-versity-A took home the Women’s Open Division trophy.
In the individual categories, Jerome Hamac from Zamboanga is this year’s Panasonic Three-Point Shootout Champion, Gabriel Aveno from Bulacan is the Sprite Diskarte Like A King Challenge Champion and Axl Tolentino of Caloocan is the Panasonic Shooting Stars Champion.
The official partners of NBA 3X Philippines 2016 presented by Panasonic include CloudFone, Globe Telecom, Touch Mobile, and Sprite, with SM Mall of Asia and Spalding serving as Sup-porting Partners. Official NBA broadcasters for the event are ABS-CBN Sports and Action, Basketball TV and NBA Premium TV.
For more information on NBA 3X Philippines 2016, log on to www.nba3x.com/philippines. Fans can also get event updates by following the NBA on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nba_philippines and through Facebook at www.facebook.com/nba3xasia and www.facebook.com/philsnba. For all things NBA, visit www.nba.com.
