When Silver really means Gold

Asia's best big man
meets Asia's best little man
(Photo courtesy of InterAKTV)

Words cannot express how euphoric Gilas Pilipinas’ magical run en route to the FIBA Asia Finals was. The goal was simple and clear: to put Philippine basketball back on the map. To have our Asian brethren recognize that we are, and have always been, a formidable opponent on the hard court if not for a just suspension brought about by local megalomaniacs and sycophants who couldn’t let go.

We lost our stranglehold on Asia’s Top 5 somewhere at the start of the new millennium, the Middle and Western teams rose into power while we were putting up a circus back home. We didn’t know if our players were progressing or not, because we weren’t looking outside. But once the suspension was lifted, our eyes were opened. Asia has closed the gap—Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, teams that we used to dismiss decades ago (or at the very least, not worry about as much as we do China and Korea), hell, they not only closed the gap but they happily kicked us off the Top5- Top 10 even.

But through the unified efforts spearheaded by Manny V. Pangilinan et. al., Pilipinas basketball is back.


It took them half the last decade (probably longer, throwing in all the blueprints, etc.), but they did it. They recognized the need to pull their resources together and come up with a structured program instead of just hastily assembling an All Star fantasy team that was proven flawed the first time out. They saw the need to jumpstart the program by adding what we’ve been lacking the last few years—a legitimate big man to go toe-to-toe with top level Asian talent. They then realized their flaws and altered the program somewhat by incorporating more professional players—but those who could fit their system overall.

So when Gilas found itself losing ground on Iran come the second half after a strong and almost “man versus God” first half stand to lose 71-85, it wasn’t that bitter of a pill to swallow. People were ranting about how we took 35, THIRTY FIVE, three point attempts only to miss 23. People were clamoring for our players to take it to the rim more and not settle.

Well, you can only go full throttle for so long before even the best guys start to falter. Specially against a team that is the undisputed Asian powerhouse the last three to five years give or take.

Iran’s Haddadi pretty much lived in the paint (with the refs letting him park in there for more than ten seconds the entire tournament) to clog up the driving lanes. Nikkhah Bahrami, Kamrany and Sahakian all took turns just out-everything-ing their Gilas counterparts to submission. There was nothing we could do at that point. Hell, even if you threw in Marcus Douthit, safe to say he’d probably spend the night on the bench due to foul trouble as the Iranians would’ve probably gone to Haddadi more often down low on offense right from the start to get our best performer out ASAP.

So yes, in reality, it was quite a reach to say that we can beat a team like Iran—right now. But we took a giant step the last few years to gain lost ground and close that “Asian gap” we were talking about earlier.

Jayson Castro-William, recognized as the tournament’s best point guard, is proof that Filipino basketball is alive and well.

See you in Spain!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!