Professional Career
In his professional career, Samboy Lim was a star player for San Miguel Beer's Grand Slam title in 1989 under coach Norman Black, though he usually came off the bench to spark the team's offensive attack.
In 1986, Samboy was almost always the top scorer for the RP National Basketball Team coached by Joe Lipa and competed in the Asian Games held in Seoul South Korea - where the RP Team captured the bronze medal. In the Asian Games, one of Samboy's most notable performances was versus the American-coached Malaysian Team where he scored 22 points. Another feather in his phenomenal basketball career was added in 1990, when Samboy scored a record setting 42 points on his way to winning the Most Valuable Player award in the PBA All-Star Game.
In the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, the Philippines sent an all-star pro team, coached by Robert Jaworski, to regain the country's basketball supremacy in the Asian Games. The national team was headed by 1990 PBA Most Valuable Player Allan Caidic, Alvin Patrimonio, Ramon Fernandez, Hector Calma,Yves Dignadice and Samboy Lim. Samboy was named into the Asian Games Basketball Mythical Five selection. The team did a great job winning all games with a large margin but lost in the finals against China and settled for the silver medal. He was also chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the said Asian Games even though he was not from the team who won the gold.
Samboy sported jersey no. 9 and wore knee-high socks, his testament and tribute to his idol Julius "Dr. J" Erving even though Lim stood only five feet eleven inches tall.
In 1993, Samboy was the player who got the first ever sportsmanship award for his exemplary behavior on the court. Lim is also a member of the Mythical Second Team Selection twice (1990 and 1993). Having spent half of his career on the injury list because of his high-flying moves that often led to bad landings on the hard court, he never won an MVP award. Basketball aficionados regarded Lim as the most successful player who never won an MVP award. It was even believed that the sportsmanship award was given to him because they knew that he could not complete a full season to qualify for that MVP.
Samboy is an impact player who can dominate the game by penetrating any defense. He uses his speed and leaping ability to create impossible shots. With his dare-devil high flying drives to the basket, sharp outside shooting and all out hustle, Samboy electrified the crowd for decades. He earned the monikers "The Skywalker" and "The Dragon."
Samboy was unstoppable in his time. He had heart, and for some time, he was the most popular player in the PBA after Robert Jaworski. Samboy is best remembered as the only player getting a standing ovation and applause from the crowd (even of the opposing team) every time he walks up to the officials table to enter the game. He was not only popular but was also respected and well loved. He even appeared in BATIBOT, a popular kiddie show during the 80s.
Samboy was so unstoppable that isolating him, during the time that isolation plays were allowed in the PBA, would mean an automatic two points or an "and one" situation. He could break down defenses like bowling pins even if he is matched-up with an import. In fact, Norman Black once drew a play where everybody switched to the other side so that Samboy can isolate his defender for that easy two points.
Samboy could also throw threes and has a mean long tom added to his arsenal. In one of the invitationals where foreign teams were pitted against PBA teams, Samboy Lim saved the face of the Philippines when he single-handedly took over in the IBA-PBA challenge in 1987 where the import was a then obscure Bobby Parks. In one of the championship game against Shell, then-commentator and now PBL commissioner Chino Trinidad said during half time that Shell is having a headache because Samboy's killing Shell almost single-handedly.
There was a time that Samboy Lim commanded more than P400,000 per month in salaries and bonuses and other perks, which at that time was unprecedented in the history of the PBA.
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