Gilas affirms goal is gold

CHANGSHA – As far as Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin is concerned, the Philippine national basketball team has achieved nothing so far at the 28th FIBA Asia Championships even as the goal of topping the two rounds of eliminations was accomplished.

“Have we overachieved?” Baldwin repeated a question the other day. “We haven’t achieved anything. Coming to Changsha, our goal is to win the championship, nothing else. We haven’t done that. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’ve been inconsistent and erratic. We continue to struggle against the zone. We’re not consistently hitting our outside shots. It’s something you just don’t wish for to happen. We’ve got to hit shots, we’ve got to make it happen.”

Baldwin shrugged off the notion that with Gilas’ 87-73 win over defending champion Iran in the second round last Monday, there is reason to celebrate. “I thought we played well against Iran, coming back from 10 down but against India, we fell behind early and we had to do things to get it going for us like put pressure on the ball defensively,” he said. “It’s not been easy. The quality of competition has been basically consistent in the FIBA Asia Championships over the years. Iran, China and Korea have always been competitive. I can’t say if there’s been a marked improvement in the quality of play but what I can say is the competition has been consistent throughout the years.”

At the 2011 edition in Wuhan, Baldwin took Jordan to the final against China. That was the year when Jordan upset defending champion Iran, 88-84, in the knockout quarterfinals. So Gilas’ victory over Iran last Monday was a repeat for Baldwin. Jordan, however, failed to grab the gold as China escaped with a 70-69 win. Jordan had the final possession and missed twice from the field before the buzzer sounded. Naturalized player Rahseim Wright and guard Sam Dahglas took the last two Jordan attempts. Daghles said he wrestled with the memory of missing the last shot for over a year before getting over it.

Baldwin said Gilas’ 75-73 loss to Palestine to open its campaign here on a horrendous note was an aberration. “We lost our focus,” he said. “Now, we’re back on track. Are we heroes for what we’ve done so far? I don’t think so. Heroes are the guys who’re buried in some hillside. We’re out here trying to do our job. We haven’t done it yet.”

Baldwin declined to single out who of his players have overachieved or underachieved. Neither did he offer a prediction as to what could happen down the road. “I’m not into predictions,” he said. “As for our guys, they’re a great group to work with. I love this team. And of course, I love this competition. This is what I live for. I know that there’s a great possibility that Iran and China will play in the semifinals. I can’t tell you who’s favored. In the same way, I can’t tell you how we’ll do against Lebanon in the knockout quarterfinals. All I know is Lebanon’s tough. They don’t have that huge an advantage in size but they’re big. That’s a must-win situation for us.”

Baldwin was once the Lebanon national team coach and took the Cedars to the 2010 FIBA World Cup in Turkey. Lebanon paid the 500,000 Euro fee to be listed as a candidate for four wildcard slots and made it to the main draw with Russia, Lithuania and Germany. At the World Cup, Baldwin piloted Lebanon to a shock 81-71 win over Canada in its first game but the Cedars went on to lose four in a row to France, New Zealand, Spain and Lithuania to bow out of contention and finished 20th of 24. At the 2002 World Cup in Indianapolis, Baldwin led New Zealand to the semifinals in the Oceania nation’s best finish ever in a global basketball event.

Only two of Baldwin’s players on the Lebanese squad at the 2010 FIBA World Cup are back on the roster. They are 6-6 Jean Abdelnour and 6-1 Rodrigue Akl. Gone are stars like Fadi El Khatib, Ali Mahmoud, Rony Fahed and Elie Stephan.

The Lebanese basketball federation attempted to bring back El Khatib to the current lineup but there were insurance issues that couldn’t be resolved. El Khatib was recently signed to play as an import for Fujian Quanzhou Bank in the Chinese league at a reported salary of $45,000 a month.

Two other stars who were pursued by Lebanon to play here were naturalized player Loren Woods and Australian-Lebanese 6-10 forward Julian Khazzouh. Woods, a 7-2 NBA veteran, would’ve followed in the footsteps of centers Jackson Vroman and Joe Vogel who were previous naturalized players for the Lebanese team. But he fell injured and was scratched out of the roster, bringing in Jay Youngblood as his replacement. Khazzouh was once the Australian league Rookie of the Year and has played in Holland, Israel and Poland and with the Golden State Warriors preseason team. But last April, he left his Lebanese team Sagesse before the playoffs under “controversial circumstances” and is now listed in the Sydney Kings lineup.

Lebanon did not participate at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships in Manila due to the federation’s suspension by FIBA. But the Cedars bring a rich tradition of FIBA Asia success with runner-up finishes in 2001, 2005 and 2007. The Lebanese coach is Serbian Veselin Matic who took the team to train in his home country before the trip to China. Matic, 55, coached Iran at the FIBA World Cup in Turkey in 2010 and is an experienced international tactician like Baldwin.