MANILA, Philippines — From the upper box in this historic arena, a grandfather, ”Pilo,” blurted out his disgust in the third period, with his blue medical facemask off. After a turnover by wily guard Thirdy Ravena in the third quarter, Pilo shouted: “Be a security guard instead! (Mag security guard ka na lang!).”
Other fans — all masked — on sections 405 and 406 were still hoping for a Filipino turnaround: for booming triples, for successive defensive stops.
Yet what turned around a Sunday night, FIBA-sanctioned pandemic ballgame were simple, unfancied plays from the visiting New Zealand Tall Blacks. The Kiwis’ 1-5 ball screens worked wonders. Rotations from the top of the three-point line led either to open threes or drives to the basket.
And on the Philippine end, there were familiar scenes: the guard dribbling then driving to either score or dish off either outside or inside, repetitively. The one-on-one Filipino plays also ensued, most of which got stymied by a ferocious Kiwi defense.
With 4:01 left in the game, and a 21-point spread against the home team screaming loud, the over-5,000 Filipino crowd at Araneta hushed in despair.
They and their national basketball team got benched by a running coronavirus pandemic. Nearly two years after, with local vaccination rates high, viral transmission dissipating, and hoops fanaticism howling its return to this arena, Filipinos wanted to watch a fighting national team to keep their hopes up.
Filipinos missed this hoops atmosphere. That night, Filipino fans wished for a big upset win.
“We (Gilas team) didn’t back down. I couldn’t ask for anything more form our players,” said national coach Chot Reyes in the post-game presser. Yet out of a 51-67 deficit, the 21-9 blast that the Tall Blacks dropped in the final 8:23 just dampened Filipinos’ spirits.
Most of ‘who can play’ for flag
The Philippines, host of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, returned to an international stage wherein countries playing in these postponed World Cup Qualifiers make the most of who can play for them.
The NBA and the various national leagues went on, and the national stars can’t take time out now and play for flag. National teams played with mostly their second or third-tier players, with a few stars steering them. Some had “stars” like former Olympians and World Cup veterans, but they’re in their early 40s (like Carlos Delfino of Argentina, or former NBA All-Star Joe Johnson of the United States).
Upsets happened in these windows. Tiny Iceland surprised 2020 Olympic qualifiers Italy. Scrappy Kazakhstan surprised two-time Asian champion Iran. War-ravaged South Sudan upset reigning African champions Tunisia.
The Philippines had other reasons to play in these FIBA World Cup windows, as well as last year’s FIBA tournaments like the Asian Cup qualifiers in Pampanga, and a leg of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia. Those reasons can be summed up in four numbers: 2-0-2-3.
Playing for 2023
As early as 2018, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas formed a “23-for-2023” pool from mostly the collegiate ranks. SBP then worked with the PBA to arrange for dispersal drafts — that college players be drafted first by Gilas then play later on for their PBA teams.
When the Philippines qualified for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, lack of preparation time for coach Yeng Guiao’s squad proved fatal: the Philippines ended up dead last in the 32-team tournament. On the side, SBP tried to spruce up the 23-player pool, subjecting them to a dedicated training program similar to the early-1980s experiment with Northern Consolidated Cement (NCC).
Then the coronavirus pandemic came. Tournaments worldwide screeched to a halt. The world waited for a year for vaccines to be developed and inoculated to most of the world’s seven billion people.
A pandemic’s wrath
The pandemic derailed countries’ basketball programs.
Tab Baldwin got the task of handling the 23-for-2023 program. But Filipino basketball players, including members of that 23-player pool, were aching to play ball. The chance came in June last year: the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark, Pampanga that included twin wins over Korea.
Building up from that bubble tournament, the Philippines got a surprise call to play in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade a month after (New Zealand backed out).
Baldwin and his scrappy youngers almost pulled the rug off on the favored Serbian team. NBA veterans Milos Teodosic and 7’5” Boban Marjanovic towed the Serbians to that ugly 83-76 win, with coach Igor Kokoškov admitting: “We had an off night, but we had to find a way to win the game.”
The FIBA Asia Cup was supposed to be staged in Indonesia last August, but the Delta surge ravaged the country and the tournament was moved to this August.
Leagues in the Asia-Pacific then pirated some from the 23-member pool since mid-last year, including Dwight Ramos, Kobe Paras, Juan and Javi Gomez de Liano, 7’2” Kai Sotto, and Jordan Heading.
Gilas Pilipinas got stuck, and SBP’s Chair Emeritus Manny Pangilinan got concerned. Then Baldwin resigned as head coach, especially given concerns for his ailing brother. Details of his exit were sudden and remain unclear, as SBP tagged Reyes to continue Baldwin’s program.
Missing a ‘playing style’?
When the third quarter saw the Filipino dribble-drive offense getting obstructed, the Tall Blacks’ half-court set plays that ballooned their lead typified how Filipinos still play catch-up in international play.
Off a Philippine timeout in quarter 3, two gentlemen sitting at row 2 of section 405 and a stout guy at row 1 howled: “We want Baldwin!” The three voices slowly grew to a few, with some claps accompanying that chant. Those few shouts from the other side of Araneta got heard during the Philippine timeout.
Look at the plays of New Zealand, says the stout, outspoken “Ramil” during the first quarter. “They’re playing like Ateneo de Manila University.”
The Blue Eagles is Baldwin’s collegiate hoops nest, and his team’s adoption of the international style of play led to two straight UAAP titles. Baldwin’s style of play almost made the Philippines beat Serbia last August, even if “Teodosic’s ball screen plays were tough to handle.”
A ‘long way to go’
As early as the Philippines’ win over lowly India last Feb. 25, Reyes said the Philippine team still “has a long way to go” to develop a competitive 2023 team. “This is a long-term program,” Reyes said, referring to forming a proud Philippine team for 2023.
The 23-for-2023 pool got somewhat dismantled as some of the members have already signed up for PBA teams. The young turks returned to their UAAP teams. The Filipinos in Japan’s B-League, Taiwan’s T1 League and Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) got themselves settled.
Reyes had to borrow his PBA team Talk N’ Text for this Philippine window. If there’s any consolation, New Zealand last played as a team nearly two years ago. Many of the national teams worldwide prepared with limited time for this window.
Against Gilas Sunday night, the Tall Blacks and its mostly younger players (including two Filipino-Kiwis) did what’s typical of the FIBA game.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup is set to feature the new generation of Filipino players, with Reyes tagging B-League stalwarts Ravena and Ramos as the new leaders. Yet days before these qualifying window matches, news buzzed: who should make the 2023 national team?
For now, with the Asian Games and the FIBA Asia Cup looming, Reyes told journalists SBP will meet with the PBA “to synchronize calendars”.
When asked who should make those teams, Reyes said “I cannot answer that question because we (SBP and the PBA) have to sit down and craft the plan.”
After Sunday night’s loss, hushes of despair from Filipino fans enveloped the Araneta Coliseum. Fans knew Gilas was simply outplayed by the Tall Blacks, plain and simple.
“We still have a lot (of things) to work on,” Reyes said.