Pinoy fans express disappointment, support

MANILA, Philippines - Local basketball fans took to social media to express disappointment with Gilas Pilipinas’ numbing setback to Chinese Taipei last Saturday but expressed their faith on the home team in the next stages of the FIBA-Asia Championship.

“Disappointed but still, they put up a nice effort. Kinapos lang sa dulo (Just fell short in the end),” posted Jona Tamayo on Facebook. “Di pa ito katapusan, bawi na lang next time (It’s not over for us; they can bounce back next time).” 

The Pinoy cagers blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to a hot-shooting Taiwanese rival and yielded a 84-79 setback, absorbing their first loss in Group A action.

Some blamed Gilas coach Chot Reyes for the heartbreaker. 

“Mental lapse on the part of Chot Reyes. Hindi nakapag-adjust nung humahabol na kalaban (Reyes couldn’t adjust in the face of the Taiwanese’ rally),” said Bogart Ramses.

Reyes had taken the blame for the setback and apologized for his shortcomings.

With the loss, the Philippines entered the second phase of the preliminaries with a 1-1 win-loss card. Some said they would need a sweep of Group E opponents Japan, Qatar, and Hong Kong to avoid an early confrontation with defending champion China, Iran or Korea in the knockout stages of the FIBA World-qualifying meet. 

“May pag asa pa naman (We still have a chance),” said Archival Anzures, an OFW in Saudi Arabia, who monitors the tourney via the Internet. “Mabuti na matalo sila ngayon at nang makapag-adjust sila sa next round (It’s good they lost this early so they can learn from it and make the necessary adjustments).”

Coaches Olsen Racela and Louie Alas gave their piece, too, stressing this is not the time for the blame game and instead, they urged the country to rally behind the Nationals.

“Enough of Criticism! This is the Best Time to Unite and support the Nationals! Go Gilas!” twitted Alaska Aces assistant coach Alas, who once called the shots for the Philippines in international play.

“Now is the time to show our support for our team!Ang #LabanPilipinas at #Puso ay di lamang para sa Gilas. Ito’y para sa ating lahat! #believe” Racela, a former national mainstay in Asian meets, posted.