2014 FIBA World Cup: Greece (5) vs Philippines (34) IR

Release. The Kraken.
(Photo courtesy of FIBA.com)

If one were to look at the final score of 82-70 alone and not be familiar with all things 2014 FIBA World Cup, you'd think that the teams that were duking it out weren't ranked far from one another internationally.

Well Greece is currently ranked 5th in the whole basketball world while the Philippines, our team, is ranked 34th. Yet we managed to lose by "only" 12 points to one of the recognized European basketball powerhouses despite having to deal with height disadvantages and in-game injuries. As with the game against Croatia, here are a few things that we've picked up on which we hope Gilas could either build on or shy away from in their next three matches.

Positive:
- Andray Blatche hobbled his way to finish with 21 points, 14 rebounds and 3 rebounds and shied away from playing iso-Blatche early. This allowed the team to get comfortable on the floor and take responsibility on both offense and defense.

- Junemar Fajardo is ready. This is what we've always envisioned, for Fajardo to become acclimated to the FIBA style of play for big men. If a brute, low post force like Argentina's Luis Scola could succeed in the FIBA tourneys with his ground and pound style, then Fajardo could achieve some degree of success by simply being a presence. 

- #inJimmywetrust we don't know about you guys, but we never doubted the Mighty Mouse. Even when Paul Lee was knocking on the door for his spot, we'd rather get rid of that guy who sucker punched a Greek below the belt than the Captain of Gilas.

- Run and gun offense. When was the last time we ran multiple dribble drive sets? Yeah. We don't know either. The FIBA level of defense is making it hard for our resident dribble drive experts Jayson Castro and Paul Lee to get into the lane (they're just not as big and strong as USA's guards, which preaches the same offensive sets at times) so we've resorted to going back to simply running and gunning. It's worked so far, since it allows us to push the tempo and forces opponents to play at our pace. Problem is, when you run and gun for the whole game, there are stretches wherein your shooters-- from Alapag to Chan to Blatche, will tire out and with it, our entire offense.

- a team with an average height of 6"3 is not giving up any inch on the rebounding category-- something that we all thought Gilas would concede Miami Heat style if only to play a more uptempo game. Rebounding difference? Greece 43, Philippines 38.

- Marc Pingris. 10% basketball skill 90% willpower.

Negative:

- Point-less guards. Castro, Lee and even Tenorio have all failed to answer the call for Gilas. Castro and Lee are stuck somewhere in trying to do too much for the team while Tenorio is having a hard time dribbling away from traps. All three youngsters should learn from veteran Alapag, who, despite over-dribbling, was actually keeping his dribble alive long enough to either be open or find a guy at the right spot. So many times, even against Croatia, Castro and Lee would kill their dribble and be forced to make difficult bail out passes. Tenorio, to his credit, never really kills his dribble--he just gets stuck with the ball so much because teams often choose to trap him more than Alapag.

- Why didn't we bring back-up/s for Gabe Norwood? Norwood has been playing all-out defensively, so much so that we're going to ignore his shortcomings on offense. No, the blame goes to his supposed back-up at the small forward spot-- Ranidel de Ocampo. So far, de Ocampo has yet to make any of his threes and has looked so out of place on court. Defensively, he's a liability against his counterparts being a slow-footed, traditional power forward. But when teams make the mistake of trying to post him up, that's when de Ocampo makes up for all the miscues. Still, we need our wings to contribute offensively to help spread the floor.

- Someone tell Jeffrei Chan that it's okay to give up fouls on broken defensive assignments. Cover for your teammates. Don't give your opponents the easy two and then look at your erring teammate and do that sick face of yours. FOUL. You have FIVE of them.

- Japeth Aguilar. Roster spot wasted so far. Need him to be assertive. Alert.

All in all, it was a great stand by the Philippines. Among the three Asian representatives to the FIBA World Cup, regardless of the bracket and opponent, we're actually the only team that hasn't been blown out yet.

Best five so far? Alapag, Norwood, Pingris, some Fajardo and Blatche.