Game Thursday:
9:30 a.m. – Philippines vs Hong Kong
CHANGSHA – In one of the biggest shockers in Asian basketball ever, Gilas Pilipinas lost its first game in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship against a team – Palestine – that’s still in the process of learning the game.
The game was there for the taking for Team Pilipinas, but the Nationals just conked out at the finish and fell to a 73-75 shocking loss to a seven-man Palestine side at the Changsha Social Work College Gymnasium.
Jamal Abu Shamala, joining the Palestine team only two days ago, fired away two lethal three-pointers in the last two minutes, highlighting their stirring come-from-behind triumph in their FIBA Asia debut.
“Palestinian players are very young in basketball. They don’t get to play basketball very much. Opportunities to learn are very limited. They’re learning from the very low level. Good thing they have brave hearts, they work hard and they really want to learn. This one turns out well,” said Palestine coach Jerry Steele, a lawyer/basketball coach from Phoenix.
Shamala finished with game-highs of 26 points and 15 rebounds with center Sani Sakakini, point guard Imad Qahwash and Salim Sakakini the only other Palestinian players piling up points with at least 10.
“Maybe (they took us for granted). I don’t know now, but who got the win in the end. It’s us so that’s good for them,” said Sani Sakakini with a big smile on his face.
It’s a huge upset considering the Palestinians are not really into basketball – or any sport for that matter – because of all the tensions in their homeland.
“The situation in Palestine is not stable. So many Palestinians move with their families. We try to get them (potential players) but unfortunately we don’t have a professional league. We don’t have much attention in basketball and sports,” said Sakakini, the lone acknowledged Palestinian basketball pro, currently playing in the Chinese league.
“We prepared for this for two weeks although two players joined us just two days ago. I’m the only one playing abroad with all others doing this as a hobby. But we showed our people that we deserve to be here,” Sakakini also said.
Gilas coach Tab Baldwin rued they’d got beat by three players, pointing to Shamala, Qahwash and Sani Sakakini.
Baldwin said they didn’t relax or become complacent but just broke down at the finish, failing to get the rebound, defend and make the shots against Palestine’s zone defense.
The Nationals were still very much in control at 71-62 before being held down to a single field-goal basket in the last four minutes of the game.
Thus, Gilas suffered what’s probably the biggest upset loss in the country’s international forays.
“I think we’ve got to look very hard at ourselves and ask the question why this happened. So that’s obviously our task now. This tourney is far from over. This is not a statement game on who Gilas Pilipinas is,” said Baldwin.
“This is a big mistake for our team, the coaching staff and all of us but fortunately we have a whole tournament to rectify that thing, fix it, get ourselves back where we belong, putting ourselves in position to move to the playoff round,” Baldwin also said.
A win over Hong Kong on Thursday and another victory over Kuwait on Friday will still put Gilas Pilipinas in a good position in the next round of the prelims.
The Filipinos led by as many as 16 as they made mincemeat of Palestine with its man-to-man defense in the first half.
But they found trouble as the Palestinians shifted to zone in the final half.
Naturalized player Andray Blatche himself was neutralized, struggling for only seven points after piling up 14 in the first half.
“I wasn’t upset with the quality of our shots but if you don’t make shots, you don’t put points on the board,” said Baldwin who troops struggled with 7-of-30 three-point shooting and 26-of-77 clip from the two-point zone.
Baldwin also noticed their poor effort defensively.
“It’s one thing to lose a game and another to get beat. I thought we got beat. It’s not relevant whether Palestine is strong or not. What’s relevant is they got 23 offensive rebounds against us and we let their three primary scorers to dominate us,” rued Baldwin.
The a much smaller team, Palestine ourebounded Gilas, 58-53.
The scores:
Palestine 75 – Abu 26, Sakakini San. 22, Qahwash 17, Sakakini Sal. 10, Haroon 0, Younis 0, Yousef 0.
Philippines 73 – Blatche 21, Romeo 11, Castro 10, De Ocampo 6, Intal 6, Abueva 5, Thoss 4, Norwood 3, Hontiveros 3, Pingris 2, Ganuelas 2, Taulava 0.
Quarterscores: 12-27, 40-45, 55-59, 75-73