First things first

BANGKOK — After experiencing some ‘high’ moments courtesy of their first win (against Senegal) in the world basketball stage in more than 30 years, Team Gilas Pilipinas were sent crashing back to earth with a dismal seventh place finish in basketball event of the 17th Asian Games last week in Incheon, South Korea. It was the Philippines worst ever finish in Asiad basketball, an embarrassing moment for a country whose inhabitants worship the sport like one big religion. Armed with a much talented lineup beefed up by a naturalized player, it came as a big surprise that the Pinoys could only reach that far in the sporting discipline they once dominated with authority. What caused many eyebrows to raise further is that they only managed three victories against India, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.  

From the way I looked at it, Team Gilas set their sights to far.  As I have written before, we really had a good chance of clinching gold in the Asian Games. But from what I have read through social media and news reports, our basketball stakeholders are setting their sight on world basketball and the Olympics. Realistically, that is very far-fetched because for me, we must first secure the Asian level, moving up to the world stage would only be considered a 'bonus'. 

As we all know, after that ‘momentous’ triumph against Senegal in the FIBA World Cup last August in Spain, Gilas came home relaxed and celebrated as if they were already basketball champions. They somehow forgot that the Asian Games is just around the corner.

They wasted a week waiting if they will withdraw from the Asian Games before training again. It was evident because their outside shots were not at all efficient during the Asiad.

In the game versus Iran, Qatar, and Korea, we ran out of gas in the endgame. Our opponents scouted our outside shooting pretty well and send bigger defenders against LA Tenorio, Jeff Chan and Jimmy Alapag. Our rotation was poorly executed and the reaction time was very slow for the coaching staff. When they played against Iran, coach Chot Reyes gambled and rest Marcus during the fourth quarter and played Junemar Fajardo, who was easily overpowered by Iran’s stifling defense anchored main on NBA center Hamed Haddadi. It took five consecutive errors on Fajardo’s end before Chot made an adjustment and that was a crucial because Iran came back and stream-rolled to finish the game. If Chot had put in Douthit side by side with Fajardo, then Haddadi would have covered Marcus and a much smaller player would defend Fajardo. But as we all say “what if,” what is done is done.

I failed to watch their other games after they lost to Iran because I already deciphered what was happening to Team Gilas - they were falling apart. With Chot unrespectfully shouting at his player, Douthit sat out some of the crucial minutes of the games for disciplinary action. Mainly because he was not playing his heart out, he was benched during their crucial match against host Korea. But I have made some scouting myself and got some inside information that Marcus is a type of  player who does not give up and will always go hard in playing during a game. Douthit is even willing to exchange faces with his opponent and even dive for loose balls at times.

I still love the game of basketball and still have high hopes on the Philippines of making it the Olympics. But first things first. Let’s prioritize and conquer Asia first before conquering the world. That would be the best and most logical thing to do.

SIDELINE: Next week, I will be featuring the much-talked-about Asian Fitness Convention in Bangkok, Thailand. It’s a big event where fitness enthusiasts all over Asia gather in one place to share technology, updates, studies, latest equipment and gadget regarding fitness. Metafit Philippines will be represented no other than its founder coach Jim Saret, his wife Coach Toni and yours truly.