87 - 73

The Beast, unleashed
(Photo credit FIBA.com)

There are no words at the moment to best describe how our very own Gilas Pilipinas beat the reigning FIBA Asia champions Iran in yesterday's 2nd round match-up of the very same tournament.

On one side, Iran was blowing through the competition by a margin of at least 40 points. They were running their sets, dominating from start to finish, and doing it all despite the relatively subpar efforts from resident stars Nikkhah Bahrami and Hamed Haddadi (Mahdi Kamrani and up-and-coming star power forward Mohammad Hassanzadeh were doing much of the damage early on for German Coach Dirk Bauermann). They were simply that good.

For our Philippine team, well, we started the FIBA Asia tournament by losing a big lead-- and the game to then unranked Palestine. We proceeded to blow out Hong Kong and Kuwait, as was expected, but then struggled against a Japanese side to start the 2nd round-- a team that Iran basically pummelled into submission by a margin of more than 30 points. Oh, and Andray Blatche hurt his ankle in that same game, a night versus this heavyweight match-up with Iran. Also, we have yet to really see Dondon Hontiveros, JC Intal and Terrence Romeo light guys up from beyond the arc.

So yeah, forgive us for not liking our chances against Iran.

PBA meets Asia... sort of.

Mahdi Kamrani in the PBA would be awesome
(Photo credits to the owner)

For the season-ending PBA Governor's Cup, the league will allow teams to field not one but two imports-- the first being a "traditional" or American/ European/ etc. import (6"5 ceiling for the top 8 teams, while the bottom 4 enjoy an unlimited height ceiling) and the second, which is optional, an Asian import no more than 6"3.

Which, in today's day and age, makes that Asian import a shooting guard/ small forward at the very least and no more.

The idea, approved by PBA chairman Patrick Gregorio, is quite intriguing and novel. It was done in good taste, with the best of intentions to help spice up the 3rd and final conference as well as expose our players and the fans to other Asian stars.

Our only concern here is that, why put a (such a low) height restriction on the Asian imports?

For the uninitiated, Asian guards and wings are no better than the ones that we already have in the PBA-- with our guys even being slightly better as our training is more to the likings of NBA players while other Asian countries develop their players to suit the FIBA style of basketball (which is, unfortunately, considered as "amateur-ish").

Gilas Pilipinas' defense takes spotlight vs Asia's Best

Gilas Pilipinas' Junemar Fajardo
in 2014 Asian Games action
(Photo courtesy of Conzace)

Gilas Pilipinas forward Marc Pingris and naturalized center Marcus Douthit battle for possession against an Indian defender in Tuesday’s 2014 Asian Games action in Incheon South Korea. The Filipinos dominated the Indian squad, 85-76, to book their first win of the tournament.

Fresh from the rousing success of notching the Philippines’ first win in 40 years in the FIBA World Cup, Gilas Pilipinas takes on yet another formidable task as it squares up against Asia’s elite basketball squads at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Focus immediately shifted on how Gilas Pilipinas’ defensive tenacity will translate to wins and eventually advance the entire nation’s dreams of capturing a gold medal at the Asian Games. This came shortly after the Filipino squad kicked off their Asiad campaign with an 85-76 demolition of India last Tuesday. Once again, the team showcased its patented #LabanKungLaban defense, as it torched the opposition from the opening buzzer and never looked back until the final seconds of the match to book its first win.

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.