Tomorrow, the FIBA World Cup opens and just in case you reside somewhere inside one of the several caves on the underground river in Palawan, our men’s national basketball team is back in the world stage after close to 40 years.
Qualifying for the Worlds is already an achievement and since we went already this far, preparations and all other related concerns are not wanting and in fact, we could have overdone it with all the tune-up matches scheduled prior to tomorrow’s opening. Our national basketball teams are extremely lucky to have a patron whose resources rival the amount of water that covers the Philippine Area of Responsibility. And this includes the filthy and murky waters on our dead rivers.
We have seen the tune-up matches and it might as well be called a demolition derby. But as I had observed, our coaching staff had been experimenting with combinations and I guess they should know what they had been doing. As the matches progressed and up to the last game two nights ago with the Dominican Republic, there was a marked improvement with their plays, specially with June Mar Fajardo.
Winning a game or two is our target in this tournament and for the moment, it is but a dream. Maybe the basketball gods prepared our senses with the tune-up blowout loses so we won’t have dysentery attacks and fits of anxiety when the real and true annihilation begins.
We are bracketed in Group B together with Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Senegal. All these teams either have one or several players who have NBA experience, and yes, we have one. We are pinning our good showing on newly minted Filipino athlete Andray Blatche, who, in pre-tournament games, had been showing good performance and camaraderie among teammates. The former Brooklyn Net and presently unemployed NBA free agent will be our main cake, the rest will be the icing. Our team’s performance is directly proportional to Blatche’s game. If he sucks, we double suck. Period.
If Blatche fails, our shooters must find their range and hopefully our bigs like Fajardo, Ranidel de Ocampo, Japeth Aguilar and Marc Pingris can flex their muscles. I would love to see Beau Belga bang bodies with the opposition.
In our first game tomorrow at 6:30pm, we face a very tall Croatian team. Very early on Sunday, we battle a likewise tall and big Greek team at 2am. It will be Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola versus the Gilas on Monday at 11:30pm. We go up against Puerto Rico on September 3 at 7:30pm then Senegal the following day at 8pm.
We will be lucky if we can manage to keep our losing margins to less than 15 points. This will really be a big achievement. Winning a game or two is not only luck, it will be miraculous and advancing to the next round is pure divine intervention.
Let us all be ready also for the infestation of the Gilas bashers. These pests have nothing else to say but bad things about our national team that even all the pesticides combined cannot control all the negativity brewing inside them. One word aptly describes this select group of species – jealous.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m an avid supporter of both the junior and senior men’s national basketball team and there is always a personal envy (not jealousy) on athletes lucky enough to be chosen to represent the country in international competitions. This includes all sporting disciplines, not only basketball.
Filipino athletes are not inferior as far as talent and skills are concerned. We are of the persevering Malay race and no matter the obstacles, we always find ways to overcome. We have the heart and the spirit to fight and hang on. The only problem as far as the FIBA Worlds is concerned is that we don’t have the size to compliment the opposition and I suppose the majority agrees with me. I am stating the obvious. Speed, skill and talent works but in basketball, height above all, is still might.
***
Belated birthday greetings to my pa-in-law, Dodong Gamay Frasco who, six years ago had his dual citizenship formalized. Pa May is aging gracefully that Daniel Padilla fans are having second looks. Da pa man. Charot.!