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.

Back in harness

Photo courtesy of TeamPilipinas.nfo

After a heart breaking loss to Chinese Taipei, Gilas Pilipinas knew that its breathing room or margin of error just got smaller. It was with this mentality that they took to last night's drubbing of the proud Japanese team, scoring at will and working both ends of the floor non-stop.

Leading the charge and ultimately setting the tone was center Marcus Douthit. He was aggressive right from the opening buzzer, demanding for the basketball and just shooting over counterpart reinforcement JR Sakuragi and Joji Takeuchi. This was the Douthit that we were accustomed to, not the 12 and 10 one we saw in the first rounds who was happy to just wait for his turn in the offense. From jumpshots to jumphooks, Douthit was relentlessly attacking which helped open up the floor for Gilas.

Rounding out the Gilas 12

No Kelly? Bring in Arwind.

Kelly Williams. Jared Dillinger. Sonny Thoss.

Of the initial 15-man Gilas Pilipinas pool released by the Philippines' men's basketball team head coach Chot Reyes, only 12 remain standing. Not because they were the shoo-ins or favorites to make the spot, but because after potentially having what seemed to be the greatest frontline combination in the history of Philippine basketball Gilas finds itself short of three key players.

There's former PBA Most Valuable Player Kelly Williams whose rare combination of size, speed and athleticism on both ends of the floor make him the ideal partner for Gilas anchor Marcus Douthit as a weak side rebounder and help defender (Ranidel de Ocampo comes in more for offense). Unfortunately, Williams' battle with a rare blood disorder has put him on the sidelines (indefinitely we hope) so there's that.

PBA should "Go5"

Imagine Kidlat's new foes:
Calvin Abueva, Ronald Tubid
and Beau Belga

We ask all our readers to bear with us as we write about a topic probably as PBA-related as a Kris Aquino-James Yap story or a "who's he sleeping with" piece if only because it doesn't directly review/ criticize a certain player or game.

Today we want to discuss AKTV (and TV5) chair Manny V. Pangilinan's decision to not renew their block time (think Eat Bulaga's owning company- TAPE's relation with GMA 7) agreement with IBC 13 once it expires this May 2013. As of press time, AKTV has officially sought the PBA Board's approval in airing the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals on the "mother ship" TV5 much like they did for the NCAA just a few months back.

To that, we say "do it."

Bring FIBA back to Manila

The country’s hopes and dreams of enjoying (tremendous) homecourt advantage come the FIBA Asia Championships took a blow when the FIBA Executive Committee opted to hold the 2013 event in Lebanon.

And while most would sit and sulk with the loss (imagine our Team Pilipinas boys playing before adoring, smart Pinoy basketball fans who would surely treat each game—eliminations or knockout, like a game 7 PBA showdown between San Mig Coffee and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel) and even question the FIBA Asia Secretary General  Hagop Khajirian’s integrity (he is Lebanese after all), let’s all just move forward from this temporary setback.