From Spain to Korea

Gilas Pilipinas embarks yet on another historic journey following their moral victory-filled campaign in the recently concluded 2014 FIBA World Cup tournament-- this time in beautiful Incheon, Korea as part of the 2014 Asian Games.

By now, you've probably heard of Gilas' little debacle concerning 2014 FIBA World Cup reinforcement Andray Blatche and of how he will not be suiting up for the team in Korea owing to a technicality. In his place is resident Gilas' import Marcus Douthit, who'll have to (re)convince the entire Filipino basketball community that though he's not at par with the offensively-gifted Blatche, he can still get the job done.

Now, because of the way our team performed against some of the World's best basketball teams, it's easy to fall into the trap of expecting an instant medal finish-- hell, a gold even being that we're the only Asian team that wasn't blown out by more than 15 points in a single game the entire 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Don't.

2014 FIBA World Cup: Puerto Rico (17) vs Philippines (34) IR

FIBA version of #chickensad
Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

Isn't it ironic how we keep on saying that we're one of the smallest (if not the smallest) teams competing in the 2014 FIBA World Cup only to fall, once more, against a team led by a man who is generously and graciously listed as six feet tall?

With last night's 77-73 loss to Puerto Rico, our World Cup Round of 16 dream has finally come to an end. We can only hope that Gilas Pilipinas is able to salvage a victory against the 37th seeded Senegal MBT, but even that team has a far superior win-loss slate than us.

So what did us in versus Puerto Rico? Well, the law of averages finally hit our shooters (which, by now, does not include Jeffrei Chan and Gary David). We took 28 attempts and only hit 6, with Gabe Norwood, either by design or by default, TAKING SIX THREES and hitting NONE. Then there's the turnovers-- forced and unforced. Paul Lee had five to go with Andray Blatche's six (with a crucial one down the stretched which led to J.J. Barrea's heroics).

And for all things Renaldo Balkman, the former and controversial PBA import didn't kill us. No, he was even benched for long stretches. Hell, Puerto Rico was pretty much a one-man team on offense in the final stretch with Barrea, who dropped 30 on our heads, seemingly unstoppable.

2014 FIBA World Cup: Argentina (3) vs Philippines (34) IR

Yes. We. Can.
Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

85-81.

To paraphrase a widely known movie quote: "It doesn't matter if you lose by an inch or a mile, losing is losing."

This is starting to become a new norm nowadays, celebrating moral victories and being happy or content with our Gilas Pilipinas losing by no more than 10 points to recognized World basketball powerhouses. It's almost too good to be true, when we're supposed to be "lacking in ceiling" and a true blue "Cinderella" story for the ages.

Then you take a look at the other team in our bracket and find Senegal, ranked 3 spots lower than us, enjoying a 2-1 win loss slate compared to our 0-3.

So yeah, let's all move on from the euphoria of making it to the 2014 FIBA World Cup and going toe to toe with some of the world's best. It's time to win. It's time to make a statement. Our players can do it, we're already there. No more excuses, no more drama. Either we're good enough to win or we're not. 

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.

Mi sueno Espanol

Durant vs Norwood. 2014 FIBA World.
If we're lucky. Or unlucky.
(Photo lifted from the Internet)

A year from now, twenty four teams from all over the world will take part in what promises to be the most spectacular basketball event in recent memory—if only because our very own, newly-minted FIBA Asia silver medalists Gilas Pilipinas will take the Spanish hardcourts with the very best.

We’re talking about none other than the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup (formerly FIBA World Champsionship). As of press time, already qualified are USA (Olympics), Spain (host country), Australia and New Zealand (representing FIBA-Oceana which, you guessed it, only has two teams to speak of), and of course the Asian finalists: Iran, Philippines (that’s us) and Korea.

So what are our chances, really?