By JONAS TERRADO
Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood dunks over former NBA cager Luis Scola during the Gilas-Argentina match in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. (Tempo file)
Gabe Norwood’s signature play in the 2014 FIBA World Cup has made it to the third round of the Dunk of the Decade contest put up by the world governing body.
His slam over former NBA cager Luis Scola during the Gilas Pilipinas-Argentina in Sevilla, Spain defeated the dunk of China’s Yi Jianlian against Nigeria in last year’s World Cup through fan voting online.
The national team veteran’s dunk received 77.49 percent votes to beat Jianlian, who had 22.51 percent in the second round of the Asia-Oceania bracket.
Norwood also scored a lopsided win in the opening round, defeating Australia’s Mitch Creek’s dunk against Taiwan in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers with 83.75 percent votes.
He is currently ahead of Iran’s Arsalan Kazemi’s throwdown over Greece’s Ioannis Bourousis in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Italy with 65.06 percent votes as of presstime.
A win over Kazemi will put Norwood in the semifinals of the fan contest to determine the best dunk from all FIBA competitions in the 2010s.
Norwood’s dunk over Scola in the first quarter of Gilas’ 85-81 loss to the Argentinians was arguably the most memorable play of the Philippines’ first World Cup stint since 1978.
The Rain or Shine forward received a bounce pass from Jayson Castro in transition before putting in a right-handed slam over Scola.
Gilas went 1-4 in the Sevilla bracket to finish 21st in the 2014 edition of FIBA’s centerpiece tournament.
