FIBA ASIA Post Mortem
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 14 Aug 2013
MANILA (PNA) - Okay, the glass slipper didn?t fit. When the clock struck midnight last Sunday, Cinderella stood at the right of winner in the victory podium instead of the top where she should have been.
But hadn?t the prince only wanted her to do the laundry?
The Philippines might have only won the silver medal in the just-ended FIBA Asia World Cup qualifying tournament behind eventual champion, the taller and heftier Iran. But who said we were targeting a higher finish than third. Hadn?t coach Chot Reyes? boys only aimed for a bronze medal so the Philippines can win back its place in the World Championship?
That second place finish though was enough for the basketball-crazy nation reason to rejoice for reason that the boys, called Gilas Pilipinas, succeeded in over-achieving that goal.
Two days after the gritty hosts gallantly stood their ground against their powerhouse nemesis, people from walks of life, in fact, boys and girls, men and women on the streets, inside the jeepneys, in market places, malls, offices, schools were still talking about their team?s feat not shown over 38 years.
They were those who didn?t even see a single game of their heroes in person due to sky-high ticket prices nor on their television screens as games were played at night that also prevented them from reading the heroics in newspapers.
The Philippine is back in the mainstream of the world basketball scene, that?s why, The Filipino basketeers, once third-ranked in the world and fifth in the Olympic Games, both the highest by any Asian nation in those, biggest stages, will again be seeing action against the finest in all nations starting next year in Spain.
An experience the once the basketball kingpins in Asia last tasted 35 years ago when Manila hosted the quadrennial conclave in 1978.
That silver medal finish serves as a signal that the Filipinos, short in ceiling but plenty in talents, are ready to re-assume their lofty positions at the top of the region?s basketball totem pole.
That was the country?s highest finish in the Asian level competitions since Robert Jaworski-coached Nationals, led by Ramon Fernandez, Allan Caidic and Samboy Lim, to mention a few, fashioned out in the 1990 Asian Games held in Beijing.
Yes, Reyes and Gilas failed to match the title victory march of their predecessors in the 1960 inaugurals of what was then called the Asian Basketball Confederation, the 1963, the 1967, the 1973 and the 1985 squads and the 1951, 1954, 1958 and 1962 Asian Games champion teams.
No quarrel about that. But those Philippine Selections were made up of the legends and the greatest in the local basketball courts but Asia as well like Carlos ?The Big Difference? Loyzaga, Lauro ?The Fox? Mumar, Carlos ?Boom Boom? Badion, Narciso bernardo, Jaworski and later Lim, Caidic, Hertor Calma, among others.
As compared to this year?s heroes Jimmy Alapag, LA Tenorio, Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Jeff Chan, Jason Castro, Gary David, Larry Fonacier, Gabe Norwood, Japeth Aguilar, June Mar Fajardo and naturalized player Marcus Douthit, whose only credentials are their fighting hearts.
Reyes might have also duplicated the feats of ABC champion coaches Arturo Rius (1960)), Fely Fajardo (1963), Loyzaga (1967) Tito Eduque (1973) and Ron Jacobs (1985) as well as Asian Games winners Chito Calvo (1951) , Herr Silva (1954), Eduque (1958) and Enrique Crame (1962).
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Reyes will be only the sixth Filipino bench tactician that will be calling the shots in a World Championship like Silva of the 1954 world third place squad, Virgilio ?Baby? Dalupan (1959), Eduque (1974), Nick Jorge (1978) and Jacobs in the aborted 1987 joust that where the country failed to compete due to the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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