Some luck is all we need
There is another battle to be fought and, even if Iran appears tougher than Kazakhstan, our boys should persevere in beating the Iranians on Monday night at MOA Arena
Luck was what we didn’t have Friday night, Nov. 30, at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.
We had the materials to defeat Kazakhstan in the Fiba World Cup qualifiers.
But some weren’t delivering, or weren’t doing enough to make things happen for Gilas Pilipinas.
While Jake P. Ayson and I were watching the game in our mini suite inside Baguio City’s plush Baguio Country Club (we are Rules Men once more for the two-week Fil-Am Golf Invitationals), we couldn’t help but rue what appeared like easy shots that were missed repeatedly by our Gilas boys.
We bungled many opportunities, Jake and I wincing repeatedly in seeming pain in seeing our boys flub scoring opportunities time and again.
How many times have we missed free throws?
Is it true Kazakhstan was awarded 35 charities, many of which were converted with ridiculous regularity, as against only 15 freebies for us?
The referees had been harsh at us this time, which would be unthinkable considering it was us who got wounded?
Marcio Lassiter appeared set to unleash his usual deadly fire from afar until he got his nose bloodied, diminishing somewhat his venom from then on.
I salute Lassiter for his valor, not stopping coach Yeng Guiao from letting him play despite his heavily bandaged nose from a wayward elbow by a much-bigger foe.
Is Greg Slaughter, our 7-foot man mountain, not yet 100 percent? How come he couldn’t deliver at all?
Was Alex Cabagnot’s mind somewhere else, maybe in Saturday’s UP-Ateneo Game 1 of the best-of-three Finals for the UAAP men’s basketball crown?
We all know he is part of the UP coaching staff. His mind might be preoccupied with drawing up a plan to upset Ateneo’s overwhelming firepower, in effect fuelling Kazakhstan’s 92-88 win over Gilas?
While the loss was a proverbial bitter pill to swallow, still Yeng and Gilas just have got to move on.
There is another battle to be fought and, even if Iran appears tougher than Kazakhstan, our boys should persevere in beating the Iranians on Monday night, Dec. 3, at the MOA Arena.
We are not expected to win. But who knows? Some luck might trigger a miracle.