Playing for the national team is really an honor - Norwood

MANILA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - Gabe Norwood has been playing for the Philippines since 2007, and for the veteran wingman, there is just no greater honor.

“Personally, playing for the Philippines is just an honor.”- Gabe Norwood

Norwood first donned the Philippines colors as a wide-eyed 22-year-old in 2007 fresh from playing out his US NCAA eligibility at George Mason University. He was quite well-known at the time, seeing action for the Patriots in their first and only Final Four appearance in 2006.

Norwood travelled to the Philippines soon after, connecting with his Filipino roots and getting called up to play for head coach Chot Reyes and the Philippines national team to the FIBA Asia Cup 2007 in Tokushima, Japan.

Since then, the charismatic 6ft 6in (1.98m) wingman has been a permanent fixture in the PBA and for the national team, having played in five FIBA Asia Cups and one FIBA Basketball World Cup, and he is not one to take it for granted, knowing full well the honor playing for flag and country brings to him and his family.

"Personally, playing for the Philippines is just an honor," he said in a recent interview with iribnews.com. "We have Filipino roots, and it is a way for us to get back to our roots [by playing for national team]."

Norwood, of course, is one of a slew of foreign-born Filipinos who play for the Philippines as locals. Alongside Norwood in the Philippines' current roster are the likes of Matthew Wright (born in Toronto, Ontario), Marcio Lassiter (born in San Francisco, California) and Asi Taulava (born in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga). Despite the circumstances of their birth, however, all have pledged to give their all for Team Pilipinas, and Norwood won't be surprised if more follow in their footsteps.

"You see Filipinos in Tehran who came to support us," he said after their loss to Iran last Thursday. "Their children may be born here, and they might come back to Philippines one day. It is really an honor."

That loss stung for the Filipinos, who were aiming for their fifth win of the Asian Qualifiers. They knew they had good chances throughout the contest, but they just couldn't get the job done due to several miscues and anemic shooting.

"We played hard just, but I think we cost ourselves a game because we had a lot of turnovers and lot of missed shots," he explained. "Hats off to Iran, they played a really great game."

Now, they carry a 4-win, 3-loss record heading into a crucial tussle with dangerous Qatar, who are also coming off a lopsided defeat at the hands of Australia. Norwood knows it won't be easy toppling Qatar even if they are back home playing at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, especially after a delayed flight that cut their recovery and training, but he remains hopeful they have enough depth to notch their fifth victory and inch closer to that outright FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 berth.

"Hopefully we come back to play well against Qatar," Norwood said. "It’s a challenge playing like this. We have to travel and come back, but at the end of the day it’s basketball and really fun. We are trying to make the most of it."

FIBA