Kazakhs a thorny issue
There’s no love lost between the Philippines and Kazakhstan when it comes to basketball. At the 2014 Asian Games, they squared off in the quarterfinals and the Philippines had to win by 11 to advance to the semifinals. The Philippines won, 67-65, in a bizarre ending which saw Gilas score for Kazakhstan in an attempt to force overtime for a chance to make the spread. Down the stretch, the Kazakhs didn’t want to score and deliberately missed free throws so the game wouldn’t go to an extension. Gilas’ basket for Kazakhstan didn’t count and the Philippines was left out of the Final Four.
Kazakhstan went on to lose an 80-78 decision to Iran in the semifinals then bowed to Japan, 76-72, in the playoff for the bronze medal. The Philippines was relegated to the consolation pool where it was beaten by China, 78-71, before salvaging seventh place by upending Mongolia, 84-68. It was the worst finish for the Philippines in basketball over 16 Asian Games. The Philippines topped the tournament in the first four Asian Games in 1951, 1954, 1958 and 1962 then the next best finish was second in 1990 with Sonny Jaworski as coach.
Kazakhstan has played basketball in only five Asian Games with seventh as the lowest finish in 2006 and third the highest in 2002. Curiously, the Philippines and Kazakhstan battled twice for the bronze. In 1998, coach Tim Cone steered the Philippines to a 73-68 win over the Kazakhs for third place and in 2002, it was Kazakhstan’s turn to beat the Philippines, 68-66, for the bronze. The Philippine coach in 2002 was Jong Uichico.
At the 2013 FIBA Asia Cup in Manila, the Philippines downed Kazakhstan, 88-58. Only Gabe Norwood is in the current Asian Games lineup from the cast in 2013 while for Kazakhstan, the holdovers are 6-4 Rustam Murzagaliyev, 6-6 Nikolai Bazhkin, 6-4 Rustam Yergali and 6-8 Aleksandr Zhigulin.
From the 2014 Asian Games cast, the Philippine holdovers are Norwood and Paul Lee. For Kazakhstan, the returnees are 6-8 Dmitry Gavrilov, 6-4 Maxim Marchuk and the two Rustams. Star players Anton Ponomarev and Anatoly Kolesnikov are not in the Indonesia Asian Games lineup although Gilas assistant coach Ryan Gregorio said Kazakhstan has indicated there may be last minute changes in the roster despite the confirmation of players at the managers meeting last Monday.
“Kazakhstan is not yet in the village,” said Gregorio in a text message the other day. “No visual yet. As far as we coaches are concerned, we will still prepare for Ponomarev just in case.” Ponomarev, a 6-10 forward, averaged 19.5 points in Kazakhstan’s first two wins in the 2019 FIBA Asia/Pacific World Cup Qualifiers then was sidelined with an injury and hasn’t since been reactivated. Kolesnikov averaged 11.3 points in four of six Kazakhstan games in the qualifiers and he, too, is a question mark for the Asian Games. Kazakhstan raced to a 3-1 record in the qualifiers after beating Qatar, 82-70 and Iraq, 82-76, in overtime then losing to Iran, 75-54, before bouncing back to repeat over Qatar, 96-63. But the Kazakhs dropped two in a row to end the third window, bowing to Iraq, 64-50 and Iran, 88-56.
The three key Kazakhs to watch are team captain Yergali, Murzagaliyev and Zhigulin. In six FIBA qualifying games, Yergali averaged 11.7 points and 31.2 minutes. He’s 31 and the leader of the pack. The other Rustam normed nine points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 27.5 minutes, shooting 46.9 percent from beyond the arc. Zhigulin averaged 7.3 points and 5.2 rebounds, hitting 50 percent from distance in six qualifying games.
Only two of the three teams in the Philippines’ bracket will advance to the Asian Games quarterfinals in Jakarta, meaning Gilas’ game against Kazakhstan tomorrow is a virtual knockout contest since China is expected to sweep the group stage. If the Philippines beats Kazakhstan and loses to China on Aug. 21, it will finish second in Group D to face the top team in Group A, likely to be South Korea, in the knockout quarterfinals on Aug. 27. Clearly, the first step is to beat Kazakhstan. The second is to thwart China. If the Philippines disposes of Kazakhstan and upsets China, it will play likely Group A runner-up Mongolia in the knockout quarterfinals for a ticket to the Final Four.