Gilas Fashions Epic Comeback Win Against Qatar, 92-81.

For two long quarters, it seemed like our worst nightmares had come true.

We went 1-15 from 3 while Qatar went 4-4 from three and 4-8 from 2. They went up bug 17 points and no one could get anything going.

We finally pruned it down to a 13 point lead by halftime (52-39) and hoped Coach Yeng Guiao and the Gilas boys had some fight left in them.

And then big Beau Belga, scrappy Scottie Thompson, and hyper Japeth Aguilar decided to put Gilas on their collective backs and tow them back into the game.

The Gilas Lineup Vs Qatar: An Update

So here's the final 12 for Gilas against Qatar:

Aguilar, Japeth

Belga, Beau

Cabagnot, Alex

Dalistan, Paul

Erram, JP

Lassiter, Marcio

Norwood, Gabe

Pringle, Stan

Sangalang, Ian

Taulava, Asi

Thompson, Scottie

Wright, Matthew

Left out are:

Almazan, Raymond

Malicsi, Allein

Slaughter, Greg

Standhardinger, Christian

Here's my take:

We already knew Standhardinger was probably not going to play against Qatar so that's no surprise. Besides, I'm pretty stoked to see Stanley Pringle play. So this is pretty okay.

Gilas Vs Iran: Grades

Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

We're giving out grades for Gilas' 73-81 loss to Iran last night, taking into consideration the player's impact and contribution versus expectations and potential.

Players will be graded from 1-10, 10 bring the highest, 1 being the suckiest, 6 as the passing grade, and incomplete for those who didn't get a fair chance to show their stuff.

The Starters:
Asi Taulava - Incomplete. The Ageless One played 5 minutes and had 3 points on 1/3 shooting from 3. But with Haddadi unexpectedly out, there was really no need for Asi's heft or experience.

Iran Downs Gilas 81-73. Three Thoughts On the Game.

It was a well played game by Gilas but Iran's considerable size on the wings as well as its late barrage of threes proved to be the big difference today.

Here are three thoughts on the game:

Thought #1 Standhardinger is the best big man Gilas has.

Yes he is. I know some people will continue to tout JuneMar Fajardo as our premier big man but I dare anybody to look at their body of work for Gilas and still say that Fajardo is the better Gilas player. 

Gilas vs Iran: The Lineup

We finally know who the final 12 Gilas players will be for the Iran game. While the lineup features a good combination of size, speed, and shooting, you get the feeling that it still isn't the best lineup we could feature.

Some notable absentees are the Gilas players who have been meted out suspensions by FIBA, including Matthew Wright and Japeth Aguilar, both of whom are with the team in Iran.

Given all these, here are the three things to watch out for in the Gilas Vs Iran game:

Thing # 1 The New Blood
Scottie Thompson, Ian Sangalang, and Alex Cabagnot are making their Gilas debuts in the Iran game with a hell of a lot of expectations.

Alex Cabagnot had long been one of the premier guards in the PBA and had always been mentioned as a potential Gilas player. For some odd reason (cough, cough, politics), he never made it to any of the earlier Gilas teams, so this is a long overdue call up.

Ian Sangalang is a weird case, because Gilas has been trying to get him on the team for the last three years and Sangalang has never shown any interest in doing so. The myriad of injuries that always seemed to pop up whenever Gilas called was just too...fortuitous (cough, cough, politics).

Scottie Thompson earned this call up with his MVP-worthy performance in the last PBA conference. He had always been the more exciting prospect, compared to Baser Amer and Kevin Alas but given that he played for Baranggay Ginebra (cough, cough, politics) and the other two played for MVP-owned teams, he was never as viable an option.

Stan Vs Stan: The Battle Between Hardcourt Superstars

Christian Standhardinger. Stanley Pringle.

These two stars, along with NBA superstar Jordan Clarkson, shone the brightest for Team Pilipinas in the last Asian Games, where the team placed 5th, 2 places higher than in 2014.

As we now move on to the fourth FIBA qualifying window, Gilas will fall victim to harsher eligibility rules that impact mainly Fil-foreign players like Pringle, Standhardinger, and even Greg Slaughter.