[FIBA] Win For All; Gilas 2023 triumphs over Lebanon

Photo: philstar.com

"Win For All."

The new FIBA World Cup tagline couldn't be any more fitting to our very own Gilas men's national basketball team, from having to go through so much off-court drama and uncertainties the last few years to finally appear to have a united front thanks to the 100% buy-in of the San Miguel group.

Because let us all be honest here, there are two basketball powerhouses in the country, be it on the professional or collegiate levels: the mighty San Miguel (SMC) and the MVP squad, which has been funding Gilas for the last decade or so. And though they may not openly say it, they are indeed the fiercest of rivals, so much so that making in-house talent (players and coaches) available wasn't always the easiest of tasks to accomplish.

That is until something magical happened last year. First, more San Miguel contracted players were made available to Gilas. Next, the group's crown jewel of a tactician, Barangay Ginebra's Tim Cone, was allowed to serve as consultant/ strategist for Gilas coach Chot Reyes. This, after the unceremonious exit of Tab Baldwin a few months prior, was nothing short of disastrous in terms of all things Gilas.

And then, finally, we saw San Miguel's basketball operations head Alfrancis Chua meeting with Chot Reyes, presumably his counterpart, over at the MVP fence. They even sat down with the big bosses, Ramon Ang and Manny V. Pangilinan-- so as basketball fans, we couldn't help but be grade school giddy with all the developments happening so fast.

So here comes the full support of the SMC group. The availability of our young B-League exports: Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, Ray Parks Jr., and Dwight Ramos, to name a few. Suddenly, the dream of having the most potent and best possible Gilas team was no longer just a dream. 

Fast forward to February 24, Friday, at the Philippine Arena.

We saw a more cohesive Gilas, that already had a sense of familiarity based on their last two games (Lebanon and Saudi). We had guys who could run up and down the gym, flying, rebounding, cutting, slashing, and best of all-- shooting threes which wasn't always the case with the previous Gilas ensembles. Before, we'd have one or two slashers, a token shooter, and a bunch of guys who we hope could bring in whatever. 

Photo: Spin.ph

There was also the presence of one Justin Brownlee, the Ginebra reinforcement who was recently naturalized to replace Utah Jazz star Jordan Clarkson. Questions about chemistry and familiarity was thrown out the window because we had a solid mix of Ginebra stars, B League/ Tab Gilas vets, and PBA guys. All of them knew the assignment, and it was clear from the get-go that we will be running the floor and spacing it out on offense, while clogging the paint on defense.

Our team featured 6x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo, and though he was not as effective, because he simply chose to buy in to the Gilas gameplan, guys all seemed to follow his lead. There were no egos, just guys playing and moving forward. If there was an error (and there were quite a few), the team would try to make up for it with a defensive stop. We had 31 assists, 17 3s, and that only showed how potent this version of Gilas was on the open court. Sure, Lebanon did not have their resident stars, but that's their problem now isn't it?

There were still some areas where we can definitely work on, such as taking better care of the basketball and maybe improving our interior defense, but all in all it was a great win for Philippine basketball moving onto the FIBA World Cup tournament.

Now, questions of Brownlee over Clarkson, Kai or no Kai, Tamayo and Quiambao or none, Ravena brothers or none, are making headlines. We love it. Because just a few years back, we didn't even have this kind of problem. The problem was where we can get talent and if they'd be allowed to play. Now, it's more of, we have too much talent, and picking out who fits the team's needs and chemistry.

One thing's for sure though, it's a great time to be a Pinoy basketball fan indeed.

Laban Pilipinas, Puso!