THE Jordan Brand and TITAN celebrated streetball culture in the Philippines with a two-day invitational tournament held at Brgy. 830 Court in Manila.
Held on May 18 to 19, the streetball experience brought together a diverse community of hoopers and artists from across the Philippines that shared a love of the game as part of Jordan Brand's commitment to serve the country's youth.
A refurbished court under the Mabini Bridge served as the stage for the five-a-side games, which were played under the crude race-to-23 format as a nod to how basketball is played in the country's street courts.
The only twist is that the games are played with a 23-minute limit, with the team with the highest score by then being declared the winner.
For the finals, the game clock was turned off, taking us back to the purest form of streetball: a winner-take-all race to 23.
A team that flew in from Cebu, led by PBA great and now Cebu City councilor Dondon Hontiveros, won the championship in the eight-team men's division and a cash prize of P300,000.
Cebu battled HoopX, a Manila-based social media company with over a million followers, in a hotly contested men’s finals.
In the six-team women’s division, Team Hustle led by Philippine basketball icons Raiza Palmera-Dy and Allana Lim won the championship in an intense finals matchup against Team Baseline, a team reinforced by women’s national team players Afril Bernardino, Khate Castillo, Camille Claro, and Snow Peñaranda.
Hustle was also awarded 300,000 pesos. Team Monarchs, Tenement, Cebu, and Davao completed the women’s division.
Aside from the intense 5v5 action, fans were also treated to live performances by rappers Alex Bruce and Al James, and 1v1 exhibition games, highlighted by Filipino streetball legends The Reaper and Kalye Irving.
Players and fans at the venue were also treated to Filipino street food such as isaw (pig and chicken intestines) and samalamig (jelly cooler). Completing the authentic streetball vibe was a pop-up barbershop set up by TITAN.
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