What Gilas U18 Upsetting China 73-63 Means

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Coming into last night's Batang Gilas game versus China, realists (such as myself) were hoping for a win but knew that history wasn't on our side. After all, China has beaten the Philippines on the last three U18 games they've played by an average margin of 33 points.

Still, that's why you play the game and we still all hoped for a victory or, at the very least, a good showing.

And then Batang Gilas showed us exactly how great they already are. They went ahead to upset tournament favorites China,73-63, and they did it with style, substance, and poise.

After all, the final score doesn't do justice to the thumping the Batang Gilas boys gave the Chinese. At one point, Batang Gilas actually led by 18. As China made their final run, the boys kept their calm and won by making crucial defensive stops and then hitting their free throw.

Here are three things this game eatblished about this Batang Gilas team:

Enough With Gilas, More With Batang Gilas.

Yes, I am one of the many who are disappointed with the decision of the SBP to withdraw from the Asian Games.

Yes, their decision makes sense in certain POVs (like if our goal was to finish at the podium). But there are other goals (player development, regional goodwill, etc...) and this decision does not help those at all.

But there is nothing more to be done about that so let's just move on to a team that has consistently given us something to cheer about and none to be ashamed of: Batang Gilas.

By next week, our young guns will bring honor to the country once again, as they compete at the FIBA Asia U-18 tournament. Led by promising youngsters Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Raven Cortez, Gerry Abadiano, and Dalph Panopio, Batang Gilas hopes to cement their reputation as one of the most talented teams in Asia.

Here are three things to watch out for.

Batang Gilas Falls to Canada, As Expected, 62-102.

Well, we knew it was coming. In a tune up game just a week ago, our young guns lost to the same side by 35 points. Today, when it counted, we lost by 40.

Here are three thoughts on today's game.

Thought #1 We need better guardplay.
Our point guard rotation of Terence Fortea (3.5 TOs) and Rence Padrigao (3.3 TOs) are averaging a whopping 6.8 turnovers between the two of them. Compare that to our point guard rotation from the severely undersized U17 team from 2014, Jolo Go (1.7 TOs) and Jolo Mendoza (.4 TOs), who averaged a measly 2.1 turnovers between them.

And that's with Go (12.4) and Mendoza (12.6) leading the team in scoring too. Fortea is currently averaging 7.8 pts while Padrigao is averaging 1.5 pts per game.