The South Korea Curse, As Explained In NBA Terms

So yes, it has happened again. South Korea has once again broken the hearts of the Philippine national basketball team, as well as its millions of rabid followers.

It has happened so often and so painfully to us that, in every basketball tournament we play, we live in fear of the Korea Curse.

But much like any curse, there is a logical and rational explanation behind it. We just need to understand it. So here's my take on the Korea Curse, as explained through the NBA landscape.

One, South Korea is International Golden State.
You have to admit, the always-a-green-light, freeflowing, three-point shot hoisting, pinpoint passing, long range bombing system of Korea is reminiscent of the Golden State Warriors' system...except Korea's been doing it since the 60s.

A Changing of the Guards For Iranian Basketball

Late breaking news: Iran finalizes its Olympic Qualifying Tournament team. And guess what? Their lineup is missing some big names that are practically synonymous to Iranian basketball.

Names like Hamed Afagh, Mehdi Kamrani, and even Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, a transcendent do-it-all forward who averaged 17.0pts and 6 rebounds for the Zheijiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball League.

The Jordan Clarkson Situation: Good Or Bad?

By now, the news has already sunk in. Jordan Clarkson WILL NOT be suiting up for Gilas Pilipinas come the Manila Olympic Qualifiers.

And while the knee jerk reaction by the public was one of dismay, his absence may actually be a blessing in disguise for the future of Gilas Pilipinas basketball.

Here are four reasons why Jordan Clarkson’s absence may actually prove to be a good thing:

THERE’S STILL A CHANCE HE CAN PLAY AS A LOCAL.

With Clarkson’s citizenship status still unclear, the FIBA committee was taking no chances that they’d see a repeat of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships, when five members of the Qatari national team were disqualified for having been granted citizenships just to play.

POT LUCK: Getting Lucky In The Olympic Qualifying Draw

By this time, everyone knows who the 18 countries vying for three Olympic slots are. (in case you don't know, they are France, Serbia, Italy, Canada, Czech Republic, Greece, Angola, Iran, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Croatia,  Tunisia, Turkey, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Senegal and the Philippines)

But this time, everyone would also know that we will be hosting one of the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, a distinct honor and a tremendous advantage accorded to our basketball team.

With the draw looming in a few hours, let’s take a quick look at which teams would give us the better chance of winning the Manila leg.

Caveat: the Gilas lineup I’m using for this comparison includes not just a fit Andray Blatche, but also a fully healed Junemar Fajardo plus Jordan Clarkson.

But first, a look at the draw pots:

And now, analyzing the probable match ups:

POT 1 – Serbia is a host so we’ll never face them. It comes down to France vs Greece and while I would dearly love to see how Jayson Castro matches up against  Tony Parker, how Terence Romeo will react to seeing Rudy Gobert in his path, how Ranidel de Ocampo will fare against Nicolas Batum, playing Greece is a much better option for us. Greece is a good team but they haven’t been as successful in the world stage as they were a decade ago. I’d say we lose big against the French but win by about 5-8 points versus Greece.

Ranking The PBA Teams: The Teams At The Top

In the last of our three part series, we’ll review the PBA teams and rank them according to the strengths of their lineup.

(Missed #12-#9? Go here. For #8-#5, go here.)

Here are the teams at  #4 to #1.

#4 ALASKA ACES

Roster

Name	Position
Chris Banchero	G
Cyrus Baguio	G/F
Vic Manuel	F
Sonny Thoss	F/C
Calvin Abueva	F
Nonoy Baclao	F/C
Marion Magat	C
Rome de la Rosa	G/F
Chris Exciminiano	G
Dondon Hontiveros	G/F
Eric Menk	F/C
RJ Jazul	G
Tony de la Cruz	F
JV Casio	G
Kevin Racal	F

Analysis: The Alaska Aces is the team that proves that the whole can be worth so much more than the sum of its parts. On paper, they shouldn’t be able to beat teams like the Gin Kings or the Hotshots but they do. There is no clear cut superstar on their roster but somehow, the tenacity of Calvin Abueva, the smarts of JV Casio, the shooting of Dondon Hontiveros, the guile of Cyrus Baguio, the versatile skill set of Vic Manuel, the leadership of Tony de la Cruz and the inside presence of Sonny Thoss make them one of the harder teams to create a game plan for. Which means that on any given day, any of those players mentioned above may be the one who beats you.

Gilas Demolishes Hong Kong, 101-50.

Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

Now that is what you call a statement game.

Yesterday’s shock defeat left everyone wondering how Gilas would react today. Sure, there were the expected “we’ll bounce back” declarations, the avowing of ire-venting, but words are cheap and Gilas was called upon to put up or shut up.

Well, they put them up and they never stopped punching until the final siren sounded. By them, they had beaten the overmatched Hong Kong team into submission and were gunning to hit the century mark, as an exclamation point to their dominating performance.

Why Gilas Lost To Palestine

Yes, we lost. Yes, we were expected to win. Yes, it’s a historic upset. But none of those things matter now. What matters is that Gilas learns from this game and uses those lessons to get better (hopefully, in time for tomorrow’s game).

That being said, here are three things that contributed to our loss to Palestine.

OUTREBOUNDED

Palestine, despite having a 6’8” center, outrebounded the Philippines 58-53. What’s worse is that Palestine totally owned Gilas on the offensive boards, with a 23-17 advantage. Those come out to 12 potential second-chance points. In a two point loss, denying them 2 of those offensive rebounds could have won us the game.

The Gilas big men actually rebounded well, led by Blatche with 12, Abueva collaring 8, Thoss with 6, and de Ocampo with 5. But it’s the box-out system that seems to be broken, with Palestine’s Rebound Brothers, the Sakakinis, getting 6 offensive rebounds each. Their big O-reb numbers were aided by our defensive scheme, something I will get into in the next paragraph.

Remembering Saudi Arabia: Why Gilas 3.0 Can’t Afford To Look Beyond the First Round

When the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships was held in Manila, the Philippines chose to be in Group A with Chinese-Taipei, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Among the three teams, Chinese-Taipei was considered, hands-down, Gilas’ most dangerous opponent. Jordan was also a cause for concern, especially with naturalized Jimmy Baxter in good form. As for Saudi Arabia? Well, everyone agreed that they would be the whipping boy of the group.

With Gilas playing Saudi Arabia on the first day of competitions, the general consensus was that the Philippine team would be getting a practice game right before the “serious” games.

And then, the game was actually played. Maybe the Gilas staff underestimated the Saudi players. Maybe they didn’t scout them well enough. Maybe the Saudis improved immensely from when they first qualified for the FIBA Asia Championships.

Whatever the reason may be, that first quarter of play put tiny icicles of doubt into the hearts of Gilas supporters everywhere, as Gilas looked shell shocked at the fast-breaking, board-crashing opponents. By the end of the first quarter, Saudi Arabia had a 2point lead, 16-14, and had put a dent in the Philippines’ mystique of invincibility.

Olympic Basketball: France 37, Spain 34 (Haltime)

France leads Spain at halftime but only by three. They've done it through ball movement, good outside shooting (5-13 3FG) and dribble penetrations. Boris Diaw is taking his shots from outside, bring Marc Gasol beyond his comfort zone. Florent Pietrus is surprisingly effective while Parker has been so-so.

Spain found themselves down by 7-10 points several times because of horrendous outside shooting (2-11 3FG), loose interior defense and the inability to take advantage of the size advantage of Pau Gasol. Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Still, the Spaniards have clawed back to within 3 points, largely through the efforts of Rudy Fernandez.

If Spain wants to win, they've got to make better use of the Gasol brothers on offense and Ibaka on defense. For France, Diaw has to keep hitting his shots and Parker needs to start making more.

Oh-lympics:Basketball

Highlights of the exhibition match between Team USA and Spain.

Good news for the Americans: They won by 22.
Bad news for the Americans: They trailed by as much as 9 in the first quarter before Carmelo Anthony exploded for about 23 points off the bench in the first half. So they really needed an explosion just to pull away from the Spaniards.

 What's clear is that Team USA is still the best team in the world.

But this is also a team who barely held a 20 point lead against an old Argentina team and went down early to a big Spain team.

An upset is not out of the picture. Would it be Spain, Argentina, Brazil or even Lithuania delivering the shocker?

BARACK-KETBALL!

USA President-elect Barack Obama sure has game!

BASKETBALL IS HELL ON THE FAMILY JEWELS 3

I'm not sure if this is painful or funny.

BASKETBALL IS HELL ON THE FAMILY JEWELS 2

Reggie Evans, basically, reached from behind Chris Kaman, grabbed his nuts and tried to rip them out (Kaman's words, not mine).

BASKETBALL IS HELL ON THE FAMILY JEWELS.

CAN YOU BEAT THEM AT FREESTYLE H-O-R-S-E?

Computer generated or real? Who cares? It's fun to watch and (for those whose masculinity has been challenged) even more fun to try!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.