He may not be quite as popular in the Philippines as Manny Pacquiao, but Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose mother Elisa is Filipino, is still a pretty big magnet for eyeballs overseas.
Earlier this week, the Heat’s TV crew produced a video on Spoelstra’s favorite Filipino restaurant, Lutong Pinoy in North Miami, and in a couple of days it has already drawn more than 1.1 million views on Facebook. That’s by far the franchise’s most popular video ever according to Heat courtside reporter Jason Jackson.
“That’s crazy,” said Spoelstra, who made a pair of trips to the Philippines with assistant coaches and others in the NBA to coach clinics and speak to youth in 2009 and 2014.