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| Photo courtesy of FIBA.com |
Gilas
set their date with destiny tomorrow, as they outlasted Team Japan 81-70, and
booked a seat opposite host China for the right to call themselves the best
team in Asia as well as the lone ticket to the Rio Olympics.
Japan
gave us a hard time once again, sticking with us until the end of the third
quarter, when the score was still tied 54-all. It took the sniping of veterans
Dondon Hontiveros, Ranidel de Ocampo and the stellar overall play of Jayson
Castro and Andray Blatche for Gilas to finally put the game out of reach.
Here
are the four difference makers for Gilas in their victory over Japan:
Defense
on Makoto Hiejima – Hiejima was a revelation in this game, scoring 22 points in
the first half alone. That’s an amazing feat, considering Hiejima was averaging
14 points per game. Then, in the second half, Dondon Hontiveros, Gabe Norwood,
and Calvin Abueva took turns making Hiejima sweat blood for his points. All that running around to get free from
those three finally took its toll on Hiejima, who scored just 6 points in the
second half and, in one sequence, couldn’t get back into Japan’s own half of
the court, forcing one of his teammates to fould Castro just to avoid a 5-on-4
situation. On a side note, Norwood also turned in some brilliant defense in the
last minute, getting 2 late steals to seal the game.
Jayson
Castro’s brilliant playmaking – Right now, there is probably no Asian point
guard who has more control of the game than Castro has. And it’s not just
because Castro has been able to score at will (17.8ppg). It’s that he has a way
of making his opponents pay in spades for whatever defensive philosophy they
employ on him. Go under the screen, he rifles in threes at an amazing 47% clip
(2.5/5.2). D him up, he drives and scores twisting lay ups. Anticipate the
drive and he kicks out to the right shooter (he assisted on three of
Hontiveros’ 6 three-pointers tonight). Get lazy on offense and he’ll pick your
pocket (2 steals tonight). So far, the only one who has been abel to stop
Castro is Castro himself, when he turns tentative on offense and mechanical in
defense.
Hontiveros
turns deadly from distance – Dondon Hontiveros was, is, and will always be a
shooter. However, he has been very inconsistent with his shot lately. In the
last two games, he could barely hit the rim. Before that, he turned in average
numbers. But tonight, he turned it on as only a sniper with ice in his veins
could. When Japan made their run, it was Hontiveros who hit back-to-back threes
to give Gilas some breathing room. He hit another three in transition to extend
the Gilas lead to 9 and that spelled the end for Japan.
Team
composure – Everyone remembers what happened in the loss to Palestine. With
Gilas up by 10 with about 3 minutes left, Palestine made a run and Gilas froze.
No one wanted to take a shot, not Blatche, not Castro, not anyone, which led to
several turnovers. The couple of shots taken were bad shots, forced shots,
panicked shots. Since then, the composure of Team Gilas has never wavered. Not
when Iran led them by 10 in the second quarter. Not when Japan kept pace with
them in their second round match up, or when India kept within striking
distance for three quarters, or when Lebanon kept coming back last night, or
when Japan again played on even ground until the third quarter. Gilas learned their
lesson well, and their composure has been nothing short of steely.
All
things considered, there are still many things Gilas needs to work on to be
truly dominant in Asia. But you’ve got to love the position we are in: talking
about dominating Asian basketball when, for so long, the conversation was about
just trying to survive.
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