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.

Highlights of Gilas vs Japan.

Jayson Castro, Dondon Hontiveros, and Andray Blatche star for Gilas while Makoto Hiejima carried Team Hayabusa on his back.

Gilas Wins Over Japan, Goes To The Finals.

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.

Gilas Wins Over Lebanon 82-70!

Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

One more game won, two more games to win.

Gilas Pilipinas completed the Final Four cast fo the FIBA Asia Championships, with their 82-70 victory over the Lebanon Cedars. They will go on to once again face Japan for a seat in the finals.

Here’s a look back at some predictions made in the an earlier article (to read “Gilas vs Lebanon: Not A Mismatch”, go to http://sportsfandom.blogspot.com/2015/09/gilas-vs-lebanon-not-mismatch.html)

MATCH UPS TO WATCH OUT FOR

JJ Youngblood vs Gabe Norwood/Calvin Abueva – as predicted, it was Gabe Norwood and Calvin Abueva who took on the high scoring guard, which mean the smaller Hontiveros ahd to toake on the much bigger Amir Saoud. The Lebanese tried to exploit this early on, leading to the quick entry of Abueva into the game. Abueva and Norwoord hounded into a 12 point brickfest (5-15), a full 7 points below his scoring average before this game. On the other end, Norwood hit a crucial three to give Gilas some breathing room in the third quarter while Abueva was his usual pesky self on the boards and on defense.

Gilas vs Lebanon: Not A Mismatch

Gilas Pilipinas came into the FIBA Asia Championships with the lofty goal of finishing #1 in their bracket, so that they can avoid host China in the crossover semifinal round. It was a lofty goal because they needed to win over Iran, a team that has consistently dominated Gilas in the last decade or so.

And when they lost their opening day match to Palestine, many took it to be an indication of Gilas’ quality, that they didn’t have the talent, the will or the smarts to get to where they needed go be.

One week later, the story has become completely different; as Gilas not only managed to win the games they were expected to win (against Japan and India) but also that crucial game versus Iran. Palestine, after a blazing started, faltered and crashed out of the knockout rounds.

As the top seed in Group E, Gilas is slated to go up against the fourth seed in Group F, Lebanon. While it is normal to expect a top seed to make quick work of a fourth seed, this FIBA Asia Championships have been anything but normal.

The Best Point Guard In Asia

Introducing, Jayson Castro.

Also, can the NBA (or NBA D-League)give Castro a chance to strut his wares? He certainly deserves  one.

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Gilas Wins Over Japan But At What Cost?

Photo courtesy of FIBA.com

Was the Gilas vs Japan game important? Of course it was.

But was it a must-win game? As far as second round games, maybe it was. But then again, losing that game would have merely meant a harder road to the finals, but not elimination from the tournament.

Those come later, when we move into the knockout stages. Will we then regret playing Andray Blatche in the third and fourth quarter of this game, rather than letting him rest his ankle so he can recover for the remaining games ahead?

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.

Gilas 3.0 vs Gilas 2.0: The Guards

It’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about: how would Gilas 3.0 fare against Gilas 2.0, the acknowledged best Philippine basketball team in recent times?

Just to be clear, we’ll be using the Gilas 2.0 lineup used at the FIBA World Cup, which means 2014 Andray Blatche will be in play, as well as Paul Lee but not Larry Fonacier nor Marcus Douthit.

We now move on to the last part of this series, the guards.

GILAS 2.0	GILAS 3.0
Jayson Castro	Jayson Castro
LA Tenorio	Terence Romeo
Jimmy Alapag	Dondon Hontiveros
Paul Lee

Once again, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that Castro of Gilas 3.0 will be equal to Castor of 2.0. The discussion will now focus on Tenorio, Alapag and Lee vs Romeo and Hontiveros.

ON OFFENSE

On offense, the Gilas 2.0 backcourt is just so much better than Gilas 3.0, not just on the scoring front but, more importantly, on the playmaking front.

Tenorio and Alapag may be the best pure point guards in recent Philippine basketball history and their leadership skills as well as their ability to control the game is practically legendary. Alapag became a worldwide sensation for his timely outside snipings during the FIBA World Cup and Tenorio masterfully quarterbacked the Gilas 2.0 team, despite giving several inches to his counterpart. Paul Lee, on the other hand, is a rugged do-it-all guard who can score inside and outside, and provides muscle and tenacity to a small backcourt. But where this trio really excels is their ability to control the game. Alapag does it with his shooting and passing, Tenorio with his ability to probe the defense's weak spots and exploit them, and Lee with his powerful drives to the basket and ability to find the spot up shooter.

Gilas 3.0 vs Gilas 2.0: The Bigs

It’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about: how would Gilas 3.0 fare against Gilas 2.0, the acknowledged best Philippine basketball team in recent times?

Just to be clear, we’ll be using the Gilas 2.0 lineup used at the FIBA World Cup, which means 2014 Andray Blatche will be in play, as well as Paul Lee but not Larry Fonacier nor Marcus Douthit.

With that, let’s start the discussion with the bigs.

GILAS 2.0	GILAS 3.0
Slim Andray Blatche	Portly Andray Blatche
JuneMar Fajardo	Asi Taulava
Japhet Aguilar	Sonny Thoss
Ranidel de Ocampo	Ranidel de Ocampo
Marc Pingris	Marc Pingris

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Gilas 3.0’s Pingris and de Ocampo will bring the same kind of production as the 2.0 versions of themselves did. That leaves us with six players to discuss: Slim Blatche versus portly Blatche, Fajardo vs Taulava, and Aguilar versus Thoss.

SINGAPORE SEA GAMES: Sepak Takraw Men Outduels Hometown Bets For Place In Finals Match!

Analysis: It would have been easier to just give up. After all, the Philippine Men's Sepak Takraw Team just got beaten up by Team Singapore to the tune of 21-12, in a match taking place in Singapore.

Add to that the fact that the Singaporean team was leading 18-16 late in the second set, just 3 points away from booking a place in the gold medal match.

Gilas Wins Over KSA, 78-66

It was a win but man...it was ugly.

Down by 13 with 50 seconds left, the Saudi players were all sporting big grins. On the other hand, the Gilas players were grim, stone faced and steely eyed.

The Saudis knew they won a more important battle: the one for respect. And that is exactly what Gilas lost tonight...respect

Now, Chinese-Taipei knows how they can beat Gilas. Jordan knows how too. Saudi Arabia showed them how and it was bloody simple. Press them into turnovers. Drive against them and bait them into fouling. Repeat.

Gilas HAS to play better tomorrow. If they don't, it's going to be a bloody debacle.