Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson was glad to share a historic moment with Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green in the Filipino Heritage night at the Toyota Center in Houston on Friday (Manila Time)
The game between the Jazz and the Rockets marked the first time that two players of Filipino descent shared the court in the NBA.
"@jalen is special, glad to share this moment in history, keep representing brodie!!!," Clarkson said in an Instagram post.
Green traces his roots from Ilocos Sur where his mother Bree Purganan hails from. On the other hand, Clarkson’s grandmother Marcelina Tullao Kingsolver is from Bacolor, Pampanga.
Clarkson, however, got the last laugh in the showdown as the Jazz cruised to an easy 122-91 road victory over the Rockets. The last season’s NBA Sixth Man of the Year put up a solid outing for Utah, unloading 16 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Green, meanwhile, had his fair share of the spotlight including a coast-to-coast two-handed throw down in the third quarter. Green finished with 13 markers and three boards although he struggled from beyond the arc after missing all of his eight attempts.
It was a much-anticipated faceoff between the two Filipino-Americans especially after putting up their personal milestone games prior to the match.
Green has started to make waves in his rookie season as he put his name on Rockets history books as the first teenager to score 30 points all while setting the new franchise record for most three pointers made by a rookie with eight against the Boston Celtics
Clarkson on the other hand was making an early case for another Sixth Man of the Year award as he put up 19 points in their game against Denver Nuggets to hit a career milestone of 8000 points.