The King regales loyal subjects

MANILA, Philippines - Close to 12,000 fans packed the MOA Arena to witness LeBron James’ historic first appearance on local soil last Tuesday and not a single one left disappointed as the King put on a royal show before his loyal subjects.

James presided in drills supervised by Gilas coach Chot Reyes, assistant coach Josh Reyes and national U-16 team coach Jamike Jarin for a wide range of players, including those representing the country at the FIBA-Asia Championships here on Aug. 1-11. The Miami Heat star even joined the players in the drills and later, saw action alongside high school and college standouts in a 10-minute scrimmage with Gilas.

There were lots of highlights in Nike’s free-to-the-public show. LeBron was introduced on stage in a cloud of smoke and for a while, looked like a rock star ready to roll. Even as his Fil-Am coach Erik Spoelstra told him about how basketball-crazy Filipinos are, James confessed he never expected his reception to be as overwhelming. James felt right at home in a basketball haven where the love for the game is as passionate as his.

During lay-up drills, James lifted pint-sized, 12-year-old Migo Asuncion of the La Salle Greenhills varsity to throw it down and defended the basket as kids drove in to score. He participated in Gilas’ pick-and-roll and dribble-drive drills like any of Reyes’ national players. In the scrimmage, James checked in with five minutes left and finished the full-court contest on the floor. Fans will remember James’ back-to-back triples after entering the game, his reverse flush, Kiefer Ravena’s lob assist for a kingly monster dunk, Kobe Paras’ incredible elevation for his version of a slam, Japeth Aguilar stuffing it at least twice, Jeff Chan knocking down outside jumpers and Marc Pingris defending the King to no avail. The high school and collegiate standouts included the Ravena brothers Kiefer and Thirdy, Koko Pingoy, Kevin Alas, Ricci Rivero, Terrence Romeo, R. R. Garcia and Chris Newsome. La Salle cagers Jeron Teng, Thomas Torres and Arnold Van Opstal were invited to participate but sacrificed the opportunity to stay focused at practice for the game against Adamson the next day. The sacrifice paid off as the Archers won, 70-67.

At courtside watching the game were Dr. Vicki Belo and daughter Crystalle, Ogie Alcasid and Gerald Anderson. Among the basketball VIPs in the crowd were Globalport team owner Mikee Romero, Meralco senior vice president Al Panlilio, Talk ‘N’ Text coach Norman Black, Barako Bull assistant coach Charles Tiu, Alaska assistant coach Louie Alas, Arwind Santos, Dondon Hontiveros, MacMac Cardona and T. Y. Tang.

Tickets were given away by Nike but some enterprising fans took advantage of the high demand to sell out to willing buyers in the black market. Scalpers made a killing as some tickets went for as high as P10,000 at a zero peso face value.

* * * *

Los Angeles-based Filipino artist Claireyen Malanyaon showed up at LeBron’s press conference in the Makati Shangri-La Hotel’s Rizal Ballroom last Tuesday and came with two oil paintings to give to the King. Malanyaon was accompanied by on-line sportswriter Henry Estipona.

Malanyaon is in town for a month to explore possibilities of mounting an exhibit. Her works on 4 feet by 8 feet of canvas have been displayed in exhibits at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and at Michael’s Gallery in Beverly Hills. In 2009, she met Manny Pacquiao in Los Angeles and has since been a fixture in his fights as a sports artist. She did the LeBron paintings in black and white only the night before the press conference.

A fan who attended the MOA Arena event had a LeBron tattoo on his right leg. Keith Picazo said he withstood over 10 straight hours of needling on his leg in a Quezon City parlor as a sign of loyalty to the King.

* * * *

In the press conference, James said he was emotionally drained playing in the recent NBA playoffs. “A playoff game is probably five times more difficult than one regular season game,” he said. “Emotions ran high, ran low. This year, I was out on the floor the whole time, going against a great San Antonio team. I think of how hard they pushed us to win the championship. It was like a sigh of relief that we were able to accomplish our goal.”

James said it’s not true that after winning a first title, the second is less difficult. “It wasn’t easier for us at all, to be defending champs and having to defend your championship each and every night in the regular season and throughout the playoffs. At the end of every game, I want to be the MVP of our team, the best player on the floor every night.”

James said whatever he does on and off the court, it’s to inspire the youth. “My hometown of Akron made me the person I am today,” he said. “I just hope to inspire kids by what I am, what I’ve achieved. I want kids to be physically fit, to do their hometown, to be good persons. I promised our fans I wouldn’t let them down last year and this year. I made a promise to them and in turn, kids made a promise to me to do good.”