The Importance of the Batang Gilas vs Bahrain Game

This, in my humble opinion, is the most important game for the U18 Batang Gilas team.

Why? Win this and you go to the FIBA U19 World Championships. Lose this and no one will remember you beat China in the group stages.

Here are three things to look out for:

Thing #1 Batang Gilas Dominance, Stat-wise
Batang Gilas leads Bahrain in most categories,  averaging waaaay more points (80-66.8), rebounds (58-38), blocks (6-3) and assists (17-8) per game, as well as shooting better from the three point line (30% - 27.5%) and the free throw line (72%-54%)

If we look only at those stats, then Batang Gilas should be able to handle the Bahrainis easily.

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:

Hail The World Champions from Tanauan! Wait, who?

It really is a sad world when a senior league girls softball team from Tanauan makes history by being the first Asian team (yep, not just the first Filipino team or Southeast Asian team but first ASIAN team) to win the world championship...and no one in the Philippines notices.

So let's get to rectifying that.

The seniors league girls team from Tanauan represented Asia Pacific in the 2018 Senior League Softball World Championship Series and made it all the way to the finals, where they absolutely demolished Texas by a score of 7-0.

Royevel Palma was superb on the mound and ably supported at the plate with multiple hits by Marika Manaig, April Rosita, and Joyce Rasco.

Here's the offical writeup from the Little League site.

Here's the only clip of the girls left on Youtube. (Other clips were removed by Youtube)

For a country desperate for any sort of international achievement, anything we could be proud of, we are doing a darned good job ignoring world class perfromances like this one.

Good job, girls. And thank you for bring honor and glory to the Philippines.

Initial Thoughts On The Asiad Gilas Team

In the latest episode of the nation's most gut-wrenching basketball drama, the SBP once again changed their minds and are now sending a team to the Asian Games in Indonesia.

They are now going back to their original plan, which is to send the core group of the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters and to augment that with a few key additions from other teams.

Here's the final lineup:
Maverick Ahanmisi (RoS)
Raymond Almazan (RoS)
Beau Belga (RoS)
Gabe Norwood (RoS)
Chris Tiu (RoS)
James Yap (RoS)
Stanley Pringle (Globalport)
Christian Standhardinger (San Miguel)
Paul Lee (Magnolia)
JP Erram (Blackwater)
Don Trollano (Talk 'N Text)
Asi Taulava (NLEX)
Kobe Paras (Cadets)
Ricci Rivero (Cadets)

Batang Gilas U18 Wins Against Lebanon, 75-53.

It was the result we expected, with some very unexpected revelations.

The Batang Gilas U18 team was touted to be the best we've sent to this event...ever. And this was its first ever game, with young behemoths Kai Sotto and AJ Edu finally teaming up together. The Lebanese, on the other hand, weren't as well known nor did they have high expectations.

So when Dave Ildefonso started out on fire, scoring 11 of Batang Gilas' first 21 points, outscoring the entire Lebanon team by himself (they had 9 at this point), it seemed like a game that would be amusing but not exciting.

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.