Gilas Loses To China, 67-78, Cops Silver Medal.

Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

For the first two minutes, Gilas seemed like they would be able to do to China what they did to Iran.  Gilas started off with a 5 point burst before China could even get a point on the scoreboard. But when China started crashing the boards, they started piling up the points on the scoreboard very quickly.

Gilas worked themselves in striking distance for most of the game. At the end of the third, when Gilas was down by just 10, China struck with a 5-point flurry that took the wind out of the Gilas sails. From that moment, China was able to coast until the end of the game.

Here are the four key factors that contributed to Gilas losing this game:

China’s overwhelming height advantage – Zhou Qi and Yi Jianlian made life so miserable for everyone on Gilas, from Blatche, who was unable to bank on his superior physical gifts, to Castro, whose shots either got swatted or missed because he had to change his shot to avoid the block.  Blatche only had 4 points at the end of the first half and none of the other big men could score up close. The only one with any real success inside was Calvin Abueva, who drew fouls from the Chinese big men repeatedly. Of course, he also went 3-8 on FT’s so he was unable to capitalize on those fouls.

Near Fight Between China And Gilas Sparked By Arrogant American Coach.

Bob Donewald, you are despicable.

China's arrogant American coach showed just how classless he is by uttering distasteful remarks against his Philippine counterpart Rajko Toroman.

Filipino assistant coaches Ryan Gregorio and Chot Reyes were inflamed when they heard Donewald utter "We're just too big, they're just too small. And he's an a$&hole.", refering to Toroman.  

Here's hoping we get another crack at China. Maybe then, Douthit, Aguilar, Williams and the rest of the Nationals can give a shot across the bows.

More on this story here.