The Philippine Patriots, known as the AirAsia Philippine Patriots from 2010 to 2012 due to sponsorship reasons with Philippines AirAsia, were a professional basketball team that played in the ASEAN Basketball League. It was the first team from the Philippines to play in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) and one of the teams that played in the inaugural season of the ABL.The Teams at the Asean Basketball League: KL Dragons, Satria Muda BritAma, Brunei Barracudas, Philippines Patriots, Singapore Slingers, Thailand Tigers The team was co-owned by Michael "Mikee" Romero and businessman Antonio O. Cojuangco, Jr.
The Patriots played their home games at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig. During its first season, some games were held at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan. Both are located in Metro Manila.
The Patriots were the first ABL champions, winning the 2010 ABL playoffs (playing as the Philippine Patriots). Shortly after, the "AirAsia" name was added to the team after Romero and Cojuangco became investors in Philippines AirAsia airline.
On July 30, 2012, Romero purchased the Powerade Tigers Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) franchise to be rechristened as the GlobalPort Batang Pier. Romero opted to focus on his new PBA team and the Patriots did not return for the 2013 ABL season.
Season-by-season records League Season Regular season PlayoffsGPWLPtsPosRoundResultABL 2009–10 15 11 4 26 1st SemifinalsFinals Philippines 2, Kuala Lumpur 0Philippines 3, Satria Muda 0 2010–11 15 9 6 18 2nd SemifinalsFinals Philippines 2, Kuala Lumpur 0Thailand 2, Philippines 0 2012 21 16 5 32 2nd Semifinals Indonesia 2, Philippines 0Total regular season 51 36 15 — — 3 playoff appearancesTotal playoffs 10 6 4 — — 2 finals appearancesOverall total 61 42 19 — — 1 ABL championship
Achievements Year ABL regular-season position ABL grand-finals position 2009–10#1 seedChampions 2010–11#2 seedRunner-up
Final roster
Notable players
Patriots in the PBA Players that played first for the Patriots before playing in the PBA: Nonoy Baclao Junjun Cabatu Elmer Espiritu Jerwin Gaco Kelvin Gregorio Khasim Mirza
Patriots with prior PBA experience: Froilan Baguion Egay Billones Alex Crisano Christian Coronel Benedict Fernandez Jonathan Fernandez Allan Salangsang Rob Wainwright Warren Ybañez
Imports Jason Dixon Gabe Freeman Brandon Powell Steve Thomas Rasheim Wright Donald Little Nakiea Miller Anthony Johnson Chris Alexander
See also Harbour Centre Batang Pier (Philippine Basketball League team) GlobalPort Batang Pier (Philippine Basketball Association team)
References
External links http://www.aseanbasketballleague.com/teams/view/3/airasia-philippine-patriots