Gallant Gilas settles for FIBA-Asia silver

CHANGSHA – Gilas Pilipinas missed its tremendous shooting on the night it needed it most and succumbed to a young, fiery Chinese team, 67-78, in the final of the FIBA Asia Championship before a huge crowd at the Changsha Social Work College Gym here.

The Nationals seized the initiative early but gradually lost momentum as the tall Chinese imposed their will behind a decisive surge in the second quarter to claim the gold.

Thus, the Nationals claimed their second straight silver medal after losing to Iran back home in 2013 and would need to go through a qualifying tournament to make it to the Rio Olympics.

Still, it was Gilas’ Asian conclave to remember and ponder. It made a storied comeback after being ambushed by Palestine, shouldering its way past powerhouse teams to seal a title clash with the Chinese in a rugged contest where a lot of calls went against the Nationals.

Malacañang congratulated Gilas last night for the runner-up finish.“Throughout this tournament, our team displayed the Philippine brand of selfless, creative, passionate basketball, fuelled by the warm and vocal support of Filipinos at home and abroad. Our people have shown the world what it means to be Filipino, and this serves as inspiration for all of us to work even harder in our respective endeavors, fulfill our individual potentials, and secure the national pride we have reclaimed, one success after another, in varying fields,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement. “We congratulate our players, our coaches, and supporters, and we encourage all our countrymen to continue their support for our athletes in general, and for Gilas Pilipinas in particular, as they continue to pursue our collective basketball dream of landing a berth in the 2016 Olympics.”

The Chinese reclaimed basketball supremacy in the region and, in the process, booked automatic berth in the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.

China endured stinging losses in the last FIBA Asia Championship and in the recent Asian Games before shooting back to the top with a squad seasoned by a year-round training at home and abroad.

Gilas had to overcome not just this solid Chinese quintet led by four seven-foot giants but some seemingly surprise tricks by the hosts.

On Friday, the organizers pushed back by 30 minutes Gilas’ semifinal game against Japan, thus, reducing the Filipinos’ recovery time for the gold-medal game.

And in this game day, Gilas’ trip from hotel to the venue was also delayed, denying the Filipinos quality warm-up time. (See related story)

Still, the Nationals came out firing and set the pace in the first four minutes of the game as they converted six of their first seven field attempts.

That’s before the referees started calling some bum calls against the guest team.

From 10-15 down, the Chinese zoomed ahead on a 12-to-nothing run and they stayed in the lead all the way to the finish.

Dealing Team Phl tremendous beating were big men Zhou Qi and Yi Jianlian with combined 27 points and 29 rebounds, steady guard Guo Ailun with 19 points and gunners Li Gen and Ding Yanyuhang with their combined 5-of-9 three-pointers and combined total of 18 markers.

Andray Blatche, paced well by coach Tab Balwin, was the lone Gilas player to put in a double-digit output with 17.

The Filipinos kept the Chinese from pulling away but couldn’t really threaten the host team with their poor 6-of-24 three-point shooting.

On the defensive end, Gilas stuck with the zone defense, peppered with 9-of-24 three-point shooting by the Chinese.

The Gilas zone prevented the Chinese though from dominating the paint. China barely won the rebounding battle at 46-43 and the Filipinos, curiously, outscored the Chinese at the paint, 30-26.   

The scores:

China 78 – Guo 19, Zhou 16, Yi 11, Li 9, Ding 9, Zhou P. 7, Zhao 3, Zhai 2, Wang 2.

Philippines 67 – Blatche 17, Romeo 9, Abueva 9, Castro 8, Norwood 7, De Ocampo 7, Hontiveros 6, Thoss 4, Intal 0, Pingris 0, Ganuelas 0.

Quarterscores: 23-19, 46-35, 60-50, 78-67