Gilas Pilipinas: Rich heart, poor shot
OUT IN the Mandaluyong City wet market on Sunday, tireless sports enthusiast Buboy Sebreros said there was only one way the Philippines could beat China: Engage the Asian basketball stalwart in a single-quarter title match.
Why not decide the championship via toss-coin, instead?
The morning was sunny and crisp, but it was not a beautiful Sunday out there in the national sports backyard
*** Even tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, patron cum laude of the Gilas Pilipinas national basketball squad, didn’t sound too interested in chasing the elusive Olympic slot via the backdoor, which will be opened through extra qualifying tournaments next year.
The Philippines became an automatic invitee to the qualifying series by virtue of its runner-up finish behind China in the Fiba Asia Championship that came to a close in Changsha City, Hunan, Saturday night.
The whole of China, feeling mighty rich and proud, whooped it up after a hard-earned 78-67 victory over the Philippines before a terribly emotional home crowd. It marked China’s return to the Asian basketball throne, which it first took in the 1975 Asian Basketball Confederation championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
*** Benefactor MVP, with bottomless rich support for sports, must’ve felt very poor after the Gilas national squad failed in what he called “the greatest fight of our life.”
Did they come to the wrong place at the wrong time?
Far from that. The crown had indeed seemed within reach after the sweet Philippine conquest of defending Asian champion Iran on Friday.
*** Despite the assorted glitches, the cramming, the nightmare loss to Palestine, things were starting to go right.
It was just too bad that Gilas showed up with its worst shooting form on championship night. It could make only 25 percent of its outside shots.
There were biased calls, non-calls. But Gilas, which led 15-10 after four minutes, started to lose grip once China spread out a tall and solid man-zone fence. All at once, the basket loomed a lot farther out for the shorter Filipinos.
Gilas started strong, fought hard. But it inevitably fell to ferocious towering defense, which shoved the national squad into a low-percentage groove.
The most dreadful point came when Gilas, shaky from the foul line, flubbed basket after basket in the crucial final quarter.
*** It was Maundy Sunday in the hearts of Filipino fans.
Coach Tab Baldwin would meekly admit they had the opportunity, but they failed to measure up.
Baldwin said the Gilas team deserved all the respect and admiration from a country it had served with pride.
*** No giving up, don’t lose hope, Pangilinan said. The loss to China should not be taken as a complete setback.
“We should look at the positive aspects of the program and things that need to be improved,” Pangilinan said. Instead of trying the backdoor, Pangilinan said it’s time to “prepare forward.”
He pointed to China which started a massive rebuilding two years ago, after it failed to make the quarterfinals of the Fiba Asia Championship in Manila.