Philippines Dream Team

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The basketball league in the Philippines, the Philippine Basketball Association, and its basketball governing body formed their own "dream team" by establishing a team of PBA players who went on to represent the country in the 1990 Asian Games basketball tournament which was held in Beijing, China. The all-pro national team won the silver medal after being demolished by China. While the squad was formed two years before the US Dream Team became a reality, the 1989 rule change of the FIBA made a great impact on international basketball. At that time, fans around the world clamored for more professional player participation in international tournaments.

By 1998, the US Dream Team's influence has spread throughout the world, and its impact was felt strongly in the Philippines, which sent another all-pro team of players (composed of the most popular PBA players at the time) to represent the nation in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. More popularly known as the Centennial Team (the Philippines celebrated its 100 years of independence that same year), the squad enjoyed riding a massive wave of financial support from the PBA, which spent P80 million (US$2 million at that time) as well as enormous hype from the Philippine media.

The Philippines also sent an all-pro basketball team to the 1994 Asian Games basketball competition in Japan. Unlike the teams of 1990, 1998 and 2002, the national team was composed of mostly players belonging to a single PBA team which earned the rights to represent the country under a modified rule at the time. Due to much appeal and last minute changes, the 1994 team decided to replace a few of its own players in favor of getting the best players of other teams in the league.

Many basketball fans in the Philippines could not resist comparing the much-hyped squad to America's Dream Team of 1992, 1994, and 1996. Prior to the Bangkok Games, the Centennial Team endured a series of local and foreign tournaments which includes winning the 1998 William Jones Cup basketball competition in Taiwan as well as a tour of exhibition games in the United States against collegiate teams. Despite all the hype and the preparations, the Philippine Centennial Team managed to only bring home the Asian Games bronze medal.

In the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, the Philippines sent yet another all-pro team, this time with new additions particularly the PBA's "Fil-Am" stars (players of Filipino-American descent or Filipinos born and raised in the United States). Like the Centennial Team, massive hype and financial support blessed the team.

In that Asiad's basketball tournament, the Philippine team won its four games to advance to the next round. Later played the host team South Korea for the crucial advancement into the finals. After much tension and suspense, the Philippines had a slim lead 68-66 within the last two minutes of the game. With time running out fast, the Koreans scored a 3-point shot at the buzzer to win the game 69-68 and advanced into the finals. As a result, players and officials of the Philippine team could only express their frustration by crying and slamming the floor with their hands.

In their final game, this time against Kazakhstan, the Philippine team played with no confidence and no heart left in them due to the tremendous heartbreak they suffered from their previous loss. In the end, the Philippines was beaten resulting a terrible 4th place finish in the basketball competition of the 2002 Asiad.

South Korea won the gold, China won the silver and the bronze went to Kazakhstan.

Ever since the embarrassing finish in Busan, many Filipinos begin to question the need for professional basketball players to represent the country in the Asian Games. Some even believed that it would be best to build a national team using collegiate or amateur players. Some Filipinos even felt that players from the PBA do not deserve to be called "professionals" anymore with the fact that they lost to mostly amateur teams.

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    Philippines national basketball team
    Philippine Centennial Team • Philippines Dream Team • San Miguel Philippines
    Federations BAP • PB • SBP
    Professional leagues PBA • NBC • MBA
    Amateur leagues PBL • MVBA • CBF • URBL • MICAA
    Collegiate leagues Metro Manila: CUSA • NAASCU • NCAA • NCAA South • NCRAA • UAAP • UCAA • WNCAA
    Luzon: BEAL • NECUAA • UCAP
    Visayas: CESAFI • ISAA • NOPSSCEA
    Mindanao: PRISAA
    Off-season: CCL • HAIL • Homegrown Cup
    Men's champions • Team nicknames
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/h/i/Philippines_Dream_Team_fa6d.html"