General Admission
In Bangkok, LeBron is something else
By Al S. Mendoza
I WAS in Bangkok when both Games 6 & 7 were played in the just-ended NBA Finals.
The trip was courtesy of Mitsubishi, which had me test-driving the latest Mitsubishi model in the outskirts of the Thai capital.
“Please keep the car’s model a secret until the end of the third quarter,” Froi Dytianquin, the soft-spoken vice president of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines, said.
I “covered” Game 6 in the tourist bus bound for the Bonanza Racing Circuit in Khao Yai, a town chiseled from a mountain wall, in the province of Nakornratchasima some three hours from Bangkok.
I covered it on live-streaming, courtesy of the tablets of Ira Panganiban, Brent Co and Ronald de los Reyes.
No play-by-play video, only blow-by-blow, which was more than good enough, under the circumstances.
When we got to the conference room where the test-drive briefing was to be held, the game was into the homestretch, San Antonio leading.
With 28 ticks left in the game, Miami trailed San Antonio by five points.
“My Spurs are on the way to victory,” shouted Vernon Sarne, the Top Gear magazine editor-in-chief.
Oops, he spoke too soon.
Heat LeBron James hit a clutch three and then, after a charity split by Spur Kawhi Leonard, the Heat’s Chris Bosh grabbed the rebound of his life after a miss by LeBron.
As if on cue, Bosh, with time running out, flicked a pass to Ray Allen stationed firmly at the right corner for the three for 95-all at the buzzer. Overtime.
The room shook from the crowd roar after Allen’s triple.
In the extension, San Antonio had led anew 100-97 but would not score again in the last two minutes.
Allen banged home a runner and then after two straight misses at close range by Spur Tim Duncan, LeBron delivered the dagger 101-100 with just ticks left in the game.
A desperation foul by the Spurs sent Allen for two charities 103-100, sending the series to a deciding Game 7.
In the decider, it was virtually LeBron Showtime, firing a Finals-high 37 points for a 95-88 Miami victory and spearheading the NBA’s first back-to-back triumph since the Los Angeles Lakers did it in 2000-2010.
For the first time ever, I covered an NBA Finals Game 7 overseas, at the mezzanine floor of Bangkok’s Holiday Inn.
Why mezzanine?
Rooms at the hotel do not carry cable TV featuring basketball.
You find that weird?
Not the Thais, who adore only one team sport: football.
Boxing would be next, so that Manny Pacquiao is in every lip of a Thai.
But LeBron James?
“LeBron what?” said a cabbie. “Is that a car model or a brand of gasoline?”
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