That time during the lockout in 2011 when a group of NBA stars went to the Philippines and Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose did THIS...

In the midst of the lockout, a group of NBA stars were approached by Filipino tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan (or MVP as he known in his homeland) to play two exhibition games against a selection of PBA players in Manila on July 23 and 24.

The game was beamed in to millions of homes nationally and the 20,000 tickets on offer sold out in hours. MVP had the tickets priced extremely reasonably (courtside seats were a mere $129 and you could grab a general admission ticket for $8 bucks).

Which when you consider the superstars on offer, was an absolute steal of a price. In addition to Bryant, Rose, Paul, Durant and Fisher, James Harden also participated along with Tyreke Evans, Derrick Williams and JaVale McGee.

The games were held at Areneta Coliseum, which is best known for where the 'Thrilla in Manila' heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in October 1975 was held.

Kobe served as player coach, starting himself, Durant, McGee, Paul and Rose. On his way to an easy 12 points, Bryant dazzled the crowd with this wrap around wizardry that left @arwindsotnas's head spinning and making front page news across the country.

Bryant and Rose weren't alone in the highlight department. KD (22 points) and Harden (16 points) combined for this 1-2 punch, high lob, off the backboard jam.

It was Javale McGee who lead all scorers and received player of the game honors after coming close to a triple double. Oh and he pulled off the first ever in-game plank (remember when planking was a thing, kids?).

Yes, this really happened.

@reddecastro

You can read more about the festivities, the second game and want went into the organisation in the lead up to the event in @Rafeboogs's comprehensive piece he did for Grantland: https://grantland.com/features/kobe-takes-manila-nba-not-invited/