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| Fat Andray wasn't a match for fit Yi (Photo credit to the owner) |
See, even before the match started our minds were already conditioned not to expect a fair fight. Then came Manny V. Pangilinan's series of tweets about how the team bus was delayed/ eventually replaced, the Philippine contingent having difficulty getting tickets and even of how our basket was surprisingly being "fixed" during warm-ups while the Chinese were already busy doing their lay-up rounds.
We were in China, the crowd was already hostile from the start. The Chinese were never known to be the hospitable bunch when it came to foreigners seeking glory in their lands. What did we expect? Some Filipino hospitality? For them to lay out the red carpet for their "enemies?" No. It was poor sports/ gamesmanship, sure. But to the Chinese, they took everything that they could to ensure victory-- both on and off the court. Because there was no one who stood up to say that "hey, this is wrong (we are looking at you, FIBA)," then the Chinese just went about their business at the expense or every single Filipino basketball fans' hopes and dreams.
We all saw the game and how it was played. We saw a lot of gross errors when it came to the officiating-- none moreso than Yi Jianlian putting up an airball that fell short, only to catch it with his own bare hands (traveling!) with the referees opting to let the action continue. There were fouls that should have been called. A lot. The one wherein Yi hit Andray Blatche in the face. The one wherein the Chinese' young center Zhou Qi's hand/arm grazed Gabe Norwood's face and even on one play, his elbow just smacking Ranidel de Ocampo on the kisser.
But if you took away the bum calls and the mind games, could Gilas overcome this Chinese team?
No.
Match-up wise, we were looking at the young, (re)rising powerhouse of Asia.
They had four guys who stood 7"0 led by Zhou Qi and former NBAer Yi Jianlian, their shortest players: Guo Ailun (6"4) and Zhao Jiwei (6"1) are built quite well to match with our own Jayson Castro. Most of their shooters and wingmen stood anywhere around 6"5 to 6"9 which is basically around the area of our own frontliners- Marc Pingris, Ranidel de Ocampo, Sonny Thoss and Asi Taulava.
Defensively, the Chinese stifled us from start to finish with their length.
This isn't our father's Chinese Dragons. This is ours and the next generations'. Tall, long and athletic. The blueprint was that of Yi's. They have another solid center on the roster in 21-year-old Wang Zhelin, and for all things you can hope and wish for if we had 2x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo in there, he'd be cancelled out just as easily since Zhelin plays the same slow- half court one on one, big man style. But since China saw our advantage was having Andray Blatche and quick forwards, they went with Zhou Qi. And that saw the end of it all.
Ailun stuck on Castro and used every inch of his 6"4 frame to force The Blur into tight spots wherein a help defender (a really long one) could easily challenge and trap him. Anytime Castro blows by Ailun, another 6"5+ help defender was already there in the paint ready to meet him-- not to mention Zhou Qi just waiting in the wings for the easy block.
Blatche?
His biggest advantage, in our very honest opinion as a long time basketball fan, is his size and strength.
What he tried to do, as he has his entire Gilas career, was to play offense from the outside going in. It worked against teams with no Stretch 4s and 5s, but China? Yi Jianlian, looking as fit as ever, was more than enough to keep in step with the flabby Blatche. Had Blatche been in shape, we'd give him the benefit of a doubt and say he'd beat Yi. But we are talking about Blatche 2015-- nice handles, but slow on the dribble against another 7"0 who looks like every ounce the gym rat.
So instead of bullying his way inside the paint, Blatche was dribbling from the outside to attack the basket. If Yi couldn't stop him from the arc, Zhou Qi was in there waiting for him. Not that the young center would be a match for Blatche head on, but he would offer enough resistance just in time for Yi to recover and basically negate whatever the Gilas 3 reinforcement had to offer at the rim.
The rest of Gilas 3?
Hontiveros was locked down. There was just no way in hell, after his explosion versus Japan, that the Chinese would leave him unmarked. He has been playing since 2002 for Pilipinas, China had about 10+ coaches working this game. They didn't leave him open much like Japan did (the Japs opted to focus on cancelling out our energy guys Marc Pingris, Calvin Abueva and Terrence Romeo).
China ran a defensive clinic.
The non-calls? Gilas 3 kept looking for them. Hoping for the referees to call something-- anything. And it ruined our game overall. Castro had stretches wherein he just looked like he was out of it. He stopped attacking and settled for jumpers. Sure, he was being guarded quite well, but instead of forcing his way into the paint he simply deferred.
Blatche was more of the same and once the calls didn't come as he'd hope, kind of lost his fight somewhere.
Abueva was the only guy who had the right mindset, even if it looked like he was out of control. He missed a lot of free throws-- but what you might have forgotten is how he was able to get to the line in the first place. He kept attacking. He just went to the rim every single time on offense, call or no call. Foul trouble or not. He played most of the game in foul trouble and couldn't care less.
Abueva was the only guy, when push came to shove, kept trying to push back.
So do us a favor and don't dismiss this game as a cooking show. Gilas 3, realistically speaking, didn't have enough to match this Chinese squad. They went undefeated, and we were not really able to scout them as much since they didn't participate in any earlier tournaments that we were part of.
Bawi na lang next time, guys.
Liu Wei played? u might be talking about Guo Ailun lol
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