THE NBA AND ME

My knowledge about the NBA started in 1974, when my late godfather, Rodeo Fallago, a retired US Navy, told me to watch the delayed telecast of the NBA finals of that year between the Boston Celtics and The Milwaukee Bucks. But the things which caught my fascination then were the wooden parquet floor of the Boston Garden and the black shoes worned by the Celtics.

It was in 1975, while reading the sports pages of the Daily Express, that my love affair with the NBA really began. It was the 1974-75 NBA finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Bullets and I religiously followed every game of the series on the newspapers. I was so excited when the underdog Warriors pulled off a series sweep of the heavily favored Bullets. Rick Barry was my first NBA hero. I love the flair in Barry's game, the sweet jumpshots and of course, the underhanded free throws.

The year was 1977, and Mr. Joaquin "Quinito" Henson, a young sports columnist then with the Daily Express, put up a contest for readers of his column, on "Guess the 1977 NBA champions". I was really looking forward of winning the prizes in the said contest, which Mr. Henson is giving up NBA magazines (it was a priceless treasure then) for lucky winners. But i choose the wrong team, the Philadelphia 76ers, which starred Julius "Doctor J" Erving, George Mcginnis, Lloyd Free, Darryl Dawkins, Hank Bibby among others, bowed to the Portland Trail Blazers, led by Bill Walton, Dave Twardzik, Lloyd Neal and Maurice Lucas, in six pulsating games.

Mr. Henson played a very big role in moulding myself into an NBA junkie. I followed all his columns and write-ups, from the Daily Express to Sports Weekly Magazines to TV Times. For me, he is my hero!, the best pinoy NBA expert and the real pioneer on it! I get too excited whenever Mr. Henson shared his experiences in his "Diary of a Tourist" series on SWM. I will never forget an SWM issue in 1979, which featured an NBA cover with Doctor J being closely guarded by Toby Knight of the NY Knicks in a pre-season game at the Madison Square Garden. The photo of course was courtesy of Mr. Henson. But my real life experience with Mr. Henson deserves another posting.