CHINA’S Great Wall was simply too difficult to hurdle. And for various reasons.
Already the favorites with a higher world ranking (No. 14) and playing in front of a raucous home crowd, the Chinese denied Gilas Pilipinas its bid to end a 43-year bid to return to the Olympics by bagging the gold medal with a 78-67 victory in the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia Men’s Championship on Saturday in Changsa, Hunan, China.
That means China will represent Asia in next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The No. 31-ranked Philippines, bronze medalist Iraq and fourth-placer Japan could still make it to Rio though, but through a tougher Olympic qualifying tournament in July next year.
Gilas Pilipinas’s gold-medal campaign looked doomed starting in their semifinal game against Japan, which they won 81-70, which was moved 30 minutes later at 10 p.m. on Friday, giving the Filipinos less than 24 hours to rest their bodies and prepare against the hosts.
Come game day, the woes continued to pile up. The team’s electronic bus that was supposed to bring Gilas to the Changsa Social Work College Gymnasium failed to leave on time. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Manuel V. Pangilinan posted on his Twitter account that the bus battery “was not charged.”
The members of Gilas’s coaching staff also had the run-around for their tickets to the game and Pangilinan said they had to buy from the black market at an exorbitant price.
During game time, Gilas Head Coach Tab Baldwin was subjected to biased calls made by referees Marwan Egho of Lebanon, Toru Katayose of Japan and Arsen Andryushkin of Kazakhstan.
Iran’s Nikhan Bahrami, whose team was beaten by China in the semifinals, 57-70, has warned the Filipinos not to expect a fair officiating in their gold-medal encounter.
China’s superior height advantage, led by Yi Jianlian who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and 19-year-old, 7-foot-1 Qi Zhou, was too much to handle for the Filipinos.
But Gilas brought in their fighting heart and challenged the mighty frontline of China and managed to stay close after the first period, 19-23.
It was a different story since then, as China was able to escape with clear contacts while the Filipinos couldn’t play tough defense because the referees called a foul even on a slight bump and didn’t make the obvious calls against the Chinese.
In one instance, Gabe Norwood was hit on the head by a Chinese player in front of a referee resulting to a loose ball. No foul was called and Norwood said after the game that “it’s hard to focus if those kinds of fouls were not being called by the game officials.”
Baldwin was also slapped a technical foul for continuous complaining and frustration took the toll on the Filipinos in the game.
Gilas’s failure to adjust to the calls led to early foul trouble by Gilas big men, like Andray Blatche and Ranidel de Ocampo, thus limiting their defensive tenacity.
With their focus shattered, the Filipinos couldn’t shoot their free throws well (15-of-26) and Jayson Castro, who was named to the Mythical Five for the second straight time, had his worst game in the tournament of only eight points on three-of-14 shooting from the field.
Image credits: Fiba.com
2 comments
Gila tried,but ended up in cooking show.
That may be true but the host country exploiting home court advantage should be expected. And whether honorably or shamelessly exploited, it is beyond any visiting team’s control.
Specific to gilas, here’s what’s controllable:
1. More reliable outside shooters
2. Constant ball movement
3. Dribble limit to minimum
4. Long armed and taller rebounders
5. Ratio of 2 shooters for every rebounder in the roster