MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas’ highly-anticipated campaign for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship got off to a disappointing start as the men’s national basketball team surprisingly choked a 9-point lead with 4 and a half minutes remaining, paving the way for their unranked opponents, Palestine, to escape with a morale-boosting 75-73 victory.
In multiple instances during their first game of the tournament, Gilas looked like they would come away with an easy win. Led by the strong early play of naturalized Filipino and former NBA big man Andray Blatche, the national squad raced off to a 27-12 lead after one quarter of play and then, later on in the third period, established another 12-point lead following a layup by veteran national player Ranidel de Ocampo.
Palestine, however, continued to hang around by hitting timely jumpers, grabbing crucial offensive rebounds, getting defensive stops, and leaning on the very impressive play of 28-year-old Jamal Abu Shamala, who finished with 26 points (on 6 3-pointers), 15 rebounds, 3 assists, and played every single minute of the game.
Despite having a far-from-perfect performance, Gilas still looked like they were going to seal the victory a little under the halfway mark of the final quarter. But then, Palestine’s zone defense forced the national team into hesitating before taking shot attempts and ill-advised jumpers. On the other end, Abu Shamala and company started nailing 3-pointers and hit shots in the paint to complete the comeback.
Here are some post-game reactions after the contest:
On Andray Blatche
The dominant start of the game for Gilas saw Andray Blatche at his finest. Resembling his superior form in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 6-foot-11 Blatche gave Palestine’s defense fits as he constantly attacked the rim, drew fouls, hit layups, and kicked out to open shooters. He took a few 3-ball attempts in the first half as well, but most of them were the product of good ball movement on offense and from crisp passes by teammates; not the pull-up, rushed 3-pointers he took during the MVP Cup held in Manila.
Blatche took two more good 3-point attempts in the second half as well, but there were others - including the one that was blocked at the end of the game which sealed the loss - that made Gilas’ audience cringe. Blatche is too good and too big to roam around the perimeter, receive a pass, and hoist up the jumpers that Palestine and other Asian opponents want him to take.
Considering the height advantage he had over his opponents, having 7 of his 18 total attempts come from downtown is just too high a number.
There were two plays during the second half where Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin had his naturalized player moving away from the ball, finding open lanes to cut to the rim and get easy baskets. On both occasions, he converted from the field. Clearly, he should do more of that, especially since his teammates are willing passers - sometimes to a fault.
(READ: Gilas Pilipinas has back against the FIBA Asia wall)
Another thing that boggles my mind is why Blatche plays very limited in the post. I get the dribble-drive system and how dynamic he can be from the perimeter, but with only the aging Asi Taulava and Sonny Thoss - two guys with little agility and athleticism - as the team’s legitimate local big men, I was hoping Baldwin would call more plays for Blatche in the block.
The one possession I actually remember him operating from there was actually just by accident. It was with 1:17 left in the game, when he rebounded a Jayson Castro miss, and scored over two Palestinian defenders in the paint after backing them down and using a drop step to get a good look to give Gilas their last taste of the lead in the contest. Palestine had no answer for him, making me wonder why Gilas didn’t go that route more times during the game.
Blatche has the size and width advantage to take opponents to school down the block. He might have spent the last few weeks on a soup and salad diet, but it was evident on Wednesday that he’s still far from game shape, and might not get to ideal playing weight in time before the FIBA Asia Championship ends.
Blatche might as well use that extra weight to dominate inside the paint, rather than operate mostly from the perimeter. And even on possessions where he doesn’t get the ball, him being inside opens the doors for more offensive boards and easy put-backs.
Rebounds
There is simply no excuse for the bigger Gilas to have allowed 23 offensive rebounds to Palestine. The average height of both teams are fairly even - hovering around the 6-foot-5 range - but when one team has a 6-foot-11 former NBA player, another 6-foot-10 player, and two 6-foot-6 guys; while the other team’s tallest guy is 6-foot-8, that advantage on the offensive glass is unacceptable.
Here’s the scary thing: if Gilas allowed that many second-chance opportunities to their opponents, can you imagine how bigger teams like China and Iran will be able to put points on the board against the national team?
The Philippines might not even get far enough to face those two opponents if they allow Hong Kong’s Duncan Reid to grab that many offensive boards when the two teams go up against each other on Thursday.
Often times, rebounding is about will and, as the old cliche goes, “who wants the ball more.” In their first FIBA Asia game, clearly, that was not Gilas.
Moving forward
It was as astonishing a loss as possible, but the dam isn’t falling in on Gilas just yet. Memory recalls that they also suffered one loss in the first round of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship against their rivals Chinese-Taipei, and then went undefeated the rest of the way until they fell to Iran in the gold medal match at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Gilas is with Palestine, Hong Kong, and Kuwait in Pool B of the tourney, with 3 of those teams moving on to the next round. Given Kuwait’s depleted roster and dismal performance against Hong Kong, and that Gilas remains the most talented team in their bunch seeing as they still have Blatche, it may be safe to assume that the Philippines will still advance to the next stage along with Palestine and Hong Kong while the Kuwaitis will end up in the classification round.
However, if the defeat to Palestine taught us anything, it’s that the Philippines cannot take any of the upcoming games for granted. All it could take is another bad-shooting game, letting go of the gas pedal for a few minutes, or a few unlucky bounces for defeat to transpire. One more of those, and the national team will be coming home from China quicker than expected.
– Rappler.com
