Paul Ryan Tan

For the first time ever, the NBA will be holding a pre-season game on Philippine soil, pitting the Houston Rockets and the Indiana Pacers at the Mall of Asia Arena in the metropolitan Manila area.

With both teams falling in their initial pre-season assignments, each team is seeking to get their gears going in their second match as a run up to their regular season campaign.

The Pacers, who boosted their stock after pushing eventual champions Miami Heat to the brink of elimination, are headlined by Paul George, Roy Hibbert, and returning forward Danny Granger.

In their previous match, they were beaten by the Chicago Bulls featuring a returning Derrick Rose at home, 82-76, before embarking on the trip across the Pacific.

“We’re going to play our starters 48 minutes and go for the win,” initially jested head coach Frank Vogel.

But turning serious, he remarked that the pre-season matches is more of an adjustment period for the newer players to fine-tune their game.

“We’re going to see a lot of different rotations, our newer players will get bulk of the minutes so they can get accustomed to our system, (allow them) to make mistakes so we could correct them, teach them and get them up to speed,” added Vogel.

Meanwhile, the Rockets are still stinging from a 116-115 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans to spoil Dwight Howard’s debut at home.

Tipoff is set at 7:30pm Philippine time (GMT +8).