On basketball and my favorite teams

I have been a basketball fan for as long as I can remember. That should not be surprising as I am a Filipino and we're supposed to be fans of this game that was introduced during the American Period when the country became a commonwealth of the US. I also played the game when I was young; even winning a championship with childhood friends back in the 1980s. I also had my fair share of injuries from pick-up games. I must admit I wasn't good as a player but I knew my trivia and stats, which I enjoy reading about to this day.

My all-time favorite teams are the following (I won't comment in details on each.):

• NBA - 1980s Lakers (Pre-Showtime and Showtime Lakers with Magic, Kareem & Worthy at their peak), 1990s Bulls, 2010s Warriors, 2000s Lakers (the 3-peat Shaq & Kobe and the back-to-back Kobe & Co.) and the 2000s Spurs.
• PBA - early 1980s Toyota and late 1980s Ginebra (afterwards I stopped following the local league)
  

While I'm more of a Lakers fan, I don't have any of their paraphernalia. I have a couple of Warriors shirts though including one featuring three stars and an eight-rayed sun (symbols in the Philippine flag) that's an exclusive for Filipino nights (the bay area has a large Filipino community). I also have a Spurs shirt with Tim Duncan's name and number. It the only item I got for myself at the NBA Store (now closed) in Trinoma when they had a sale when Duncan retired from playing. I also got one for my brother. I used to have a Celtics shirt with Rondo's name and number that the wife got for me when she was in Boston the last time the Celtics won the championship. We sold it at our rummage sale (quick and good buy for the one who spotted it).

 

I won't mention Olympics and World Championship teams except maybe the first Dream Team back in 1992. That was a historic moment in the sport and the US Team was really loaded. I might not have agreed on the head coach and perhaps the hesitation to have an all-pro team but it is still the best assembled that competed in the Olympics or World Championships.

I was very happy to see the Lakers come up big during the previous season when the NBA decided to continue with a bubble in Florida. They are my sentimental favorites and the fact that LeBron James is playing for them is pretty special for a team that's always been in the limelight. After losing Kobe to retirement and his untimely demise last year, it seemed the franchise and its fan base needed something to cheer them up. The season was almost lost to the pandemic but somehow recovered thanks to strict rules that allowed teams to resume play.  They are favorites to repeat this year and perhaps they will barring any serious injuries to the main cast.

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