Living legend Bird also due for NBA preseason

ANOTHER basketball living legend will be in Manila when the country hosts an NBA preseason game for the first time this week at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Larry Bird, who was inducted to the NBA Hall of Fame in 1998 after a glorious career with the Boston Celtics in the 1970s and ’80s, is set to arrive early this morning along with the Indiana Pacers. He serves as the franchise’s president.

The Pacers will take on the Houston Rockets at 7 p.m. Thursday in the historic match that’s also a first in Southeast Asia.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale, who heads the Houston delegation, also played alongside Bird in three of the Celtics’ championship runs in the ’80s before getting inducted to the Hall of Fame as well in 1999.

Five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, who won titles with Michael Jordan in Chicago and Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, arrived last weekend as one of the NBA Global Games’ ambassadors.

Harper yesterday spearheaded the NBA Cares activity at Boys Town in Marikina City and also engaged Filipino fans in the NBA Fan Fiesta at SM Megamall.

Fellow NBA Legends Clyde Drexler, Robert Horry and Jalen Rose are set to arrive this week to drum up the game that’s expected to draw a sellout crowd.

The Rockets, bannered by superstar center Dwight Howard, James Harden and Taiwanese-American Jeremy Lin, and the Pacers, led by All-Star players Paul George and Roy Hibbert, are scheduled to grace several activities at MOA Arena and selected neighborhood basketball courts before Thursday’s showdown.

The NBA, together with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, will also host a free coaching clinic featuring the coaching staff of both Rockets and Pacers on Tuesday at MOA Arena

For inquiries, log on to [email protected]. The SBP mentors’ program is open to all coaches.