Clarkson meets Green on the NBA court and makes history

Jordan Clarkson, left, and Jaylen Green made history Thursday.

 

It took a long time -- 75 years -- before two players of Filipino descent met on a National Basketball Association court.

When the Utah Jazz faced the Houston Rockets in the Toyota Center in Houston, history was made when Utah's Jordan Clarkson and Houston's Jalen Green played against each other Thursday evening (Oct. 28).

The night marked the first time two players with Filipino heritage played in the same game. Clarkson’s grandmother is from the Philippines, as does Green’s grandfather.

The outcome of the game -- Utah 122, Houston, 91 -- didn't matter to Filipino American basketball fans on the Rocket's first Filipino Heritage Month. 

The stats don't tell the complete story. Clarkson, the most experience of the two players, wound up with 16 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists. Nineteen-year old Green, ironicly his fifth game in the NBA, ended the evening with 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

Since both players were guards, they sometimes found themselves guarding each other. Ironically, Green sported a jersey with "0" on it and Clarkson's number was "00." Despite their similar zero numbers, they scored big with the Filipinos who attended the game. 

In honor of the historic occasion, the Rockets held Filipino Heritage Night at Toyota Center, where T-shirts with Green’s No. 0 were given to each fan. The fans were also treated with an exclusive Q&A with Green. To their delight and surprise, Clarkson came out of the visitors' locker room to join them.

"Just us two being here, it's super inspirational for the youth and every Filipino-American, every Filipino, anybody with Filipino blood," Clarkson said after the game.

Basketball is wildly popular in the Philippines, A basketball court, even with a dirt floor, can be found in the smallest barangay (neighborhood). Every Filipino basketball fan follows Clarkson's feats on the court and his jersey is one of the most popular in the Philippines. He has played with Gilas Pilipinas, one of the pro teams in the Philippines Basketball Association, the NBA's counterpart. 

"When I step on the floor," Clarkson started to say, and then corrected himself to include Green, "when we step on the floor, we know we represent the country, represent our people, and we go out there and do what we do."

"We feel the love, we feel the support," added Clarkson..