Here comes the BOOM

Locked and loaded.
(Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV)

As though mimicking a used FPJ-storyline in which the valiant hero gets his ass-handed to him early by the bigger, moustached-wearing baddie before finally serving up an ass-whopping of his own, Gary David has finally come through for Gilas Pilipinas in the ongoing FIBA Asia tournament at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

It took a lot of missed shots and gimmes, constant cheering from the Arena crowd never before heard of not since the days of the legendary Sonny Jaworski, Sr. and most of all- patience for David to finally lay claim as the team's chief gunner on the floor. Making up for lost time, David was in a clear rhythm right off the bat (22 points, 4/6 on 3s) , knocking down contested and uncontested threes, driving to the rim and just having this air of confidence in him that was missing the last few days.

Say what you will about Kazakhstan, which we beat 88-58 last night en route to the semifinals, but those guys are big and not shy about it. They are physical, strong and know their basketball. So anytime you have a 6"2 guard like David shooting over 6"4s and 6"5s without hesitation, you just know that we're in for a good one.

Overall, Gilas Pilipinas just played with so much tenacity on both ends of the court. The shooters were making shots, the defenders were making stops, and we pretty much kept everyone in check from KAZ point guard Jerri Johnson (8 points, 2/11 shooting) to shooter Dimitriy Klimov (14 points, 4/7 on 3s).

We were so good, that we were able to overlook Jeffrei Chan's 1/6 shooting night from three point range and even Marcus Douthit's limited 5 points and 10 rebounds output. From where we stand, we'd say that Douthit is clearly not 100%. At best, he's running at 70% with that bad leg of his that he was pretty much dragging around early in the game.

Fortunately, and we still can't believe we're saying this, Japeth Aguilar (who had an awful outing against lowly Hong Kong which shows his immaturity/inconsistency again) was going full throttle to finish with 11 points and 9 rebounds. When he's at his best, Aguilar looks like the poor, poor man's Yi Jianlian (or at the very least, the Yi we saw play for China in this tournament) only he wasn't the focus of the offense. All the intangibles that we've always called Aguilar for not doing-- he was doing it. So yeah, we'll keep praising him until this surreal ride of his lasts (which we hope, for his NBA dream's sake, is only beginning).

We would also like to take this time to give a shout out to L.A. Tenorio. Fans have been calling him out as of late for his turnovers and what not in the first two rounds, but what they aren't seeing is his defensive effort. He's not only being forced to guard guys inches taller than he is, but he's also battling through sturdy, FIBA Asia level screens which is easier said than done. Last night, he was matched up early against Johnson and more than held his own. We're not saying that Tenorio locked him down, but all the scrimmages opposite teammate Jayson Castro (13 points) probably played a huge part in his defensive game plan.

On to the next one. On to Korea.