Basketball in the Philippines

Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines, played on both the amateur and professional levels.

Basketball, which was invented at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, was introduced to the Philippines by the YMCA early in the American colonial period (1898–1946). The Philippines won several medals in various pan-Asian competitions over the next few decades.

The Philippines played basketball in the Olympic Games beginning in 1936, after the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established.

The Philippines became an independent country in 1946, and in the 1950s, the Philippines men's national basketball team did well in international tournaments. The Philippine team won the gold medal at the Asian Games in 1951, the first-time basketball was played. The Philippine basketball team dominated the Asian Games until 1962. In the 1954 FIBA World Championship the Philippines placed third, winning the bronze medal, the best performance by an Asian team in the World Championship.

Despite missing the first FIBA Basketball World Cup (known through 2010 as the FIBA World Championship), held in 1950 in Argentina, the Philippines participated in the 1954 FIBA World Championship held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Philippines finished with a 5-2 win-loss record in the Final Round games, and captured the bronze medal. The third place-finish is still currently the best finish by an Asian country in the World Cup. Carlos Loyzaga finished as the world tournament's third leading scorer (148 points/16.4 points per game) and was named in the FIBA World Mythical Five Selection.

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