Blatche reminisces about 'amazing' time with Gilas

MANILA, Philippines -- Former Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Andray Blatche said that his time playing for the Philippine national team is one of the most “amazing” things he has seen in his career.

Blatche, who was naturalized for the Philippines back in 2014, had countless battles with Gilas through the years.

He was part of the team that went to the 2014 FIBA World Cup, 2015 FIBA Asia Championship and 2019 FIBA World Cup, along with other international tournaments.

In an interview aired over Dwight Howard’s podcast Above the Rim, Blatche looked back on his time with the Filipinos.

“Honestly, out of all the years I played basketball, what we [were] doing were some of the most unheard of and amazing things I’ve seen in my whole career. The Philippines, playing in the World Cup with the Philippines my first year,” he said.

“Imagine me, it’s me, and all Filipino guys, just playing with heart, playing against Greece, Italy, everybody. And we’re taking everybody to the wire,” he added.

Gilas had close games against superior teams in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, led by the 6-foot-11 big man.

They pushed Croatia, Greece, Argentina and Puerto Rico to their limits before falling. They then defeated Senegal in a close call.

In the 2019 edition of the tournament, though, Gilas fell by huge margins against Italy, Serbia, Tunisia and Iran. Their nearest loss was against Angola by three points.

Blatche also underscored just how “completely different” the Filipino crowd is compared to the previous one he played in front of.

“[The atmosphere is] completely different. Way more energetic. All them games I played, I only came out the game probably like once or twice for like 30 seconds or a minute. And I wasn’t drained because it was so much adrenaline going on in my body from the fans,” he said.

“Then they flew my mom out there so I got my mom there too. That was some of the funnest times I had,” he added.

“I don’t care where we went to go play… the whole arena was all Filipinos. Everywhere you go, Filipinos.”

For his part, Howard, who played for Team USA in the past, underscored just how amazing it is to represent a whole country.

“Obviously, you are from America and you represent the United States but I don’t think people understand the pride you get of playing for a country. When you play for a team, it’s one thing, but now you got this whole country, everybody is tuned in to watch you play,” Howard said.

“They want to see the whole country win. I had a chance to play for the Filipino team and that was the most, it was just amazing. That was so beautiful,” added the center, who played for Strong Group Athletics earlier this year.