Scalia's gift

Scalia Nethanial is a rare breed of basketball entertainment. The Filipino-Malaysian has taken freestyle in a new and refreshing direction.

- BILL VELASCO

As a kid dazzled by the likes of the And1 Mix Tape, Flip Ballaz and Hype Streetball almost 20 years ago, he's taken the best of what was and made it new, and his. The young breakdancer discovered his gift, the ability to make people smile using a hybrid of hoops and hip hop.

"I was really intrigued by it," he recalls. "This didn't look like the NBA. As a kid, I got bored. Everything was a whistle. In Malaysia, we don't have courts everywhere like in the Philippines. One day, I was just dribbling, spinning the ball randomly, and I saw people smiling at me. That was it."