‘Deflated’ Gilas five leaves Incheon

INCHEON, South Korea—Caught in the cross-currents of controversy and uncertainty, Gilas Pilipinas began the journey back home with the players carrying with them a lot of baggage—but not the piece of hardware they were supposed to bring home: the gold medal.

Of the team that came here with the mission of bringing the country on top of the Asian Games basketball hierarchy, only a few have remained in the Athletes’ Village: forward Marc Pingris, whose PBA team, San Mig Coffee, is in Seoul for exhibition matches, center June Mar Fajardo and the coaching staff.

Skipper Jimmy Alapag, who gave an emotional speech in the locker room after the victory over Mongolia that locked up seventh spot for Gilas, led the group that flew back home.

They will arrive to a country searching for answers to what went wrong.

For coach Chot Reyes, the answer was simple: “Our tournament was decided by that loss to Qatar. That’s the story right there,” he told reporters on the heels of a 67-65 victory over Kazakhstan that fell short of the winning margin needed to push the team to the semifinals.

After a brilliant run in the Fiba World Cup in Seville, Spain, the Nationals could not get into their groove here and got mired in a rumor-heavy stretch that included the benching of Marcus Douthit and a decision to shoot at the opponents’ hoop against Kazakhstan.

Reyes had excuses for both: The need to establish a code of discipline pushed him to ground Douthit; the lack of lifebuoys left him with no other choice but to try to put points on the Kazkahstan scoreboard.

Not everyone is buying these, apparently.