‘Blatche key to Philippine Olympic stint’

At the end of the day, after all the effort exerted by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, The Los Angeles Lakers’ Fil-Am cager, Jordan Clarkson, will not be in China to play for Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba Asia Men’s Championship set Sept. 23 to Oct. 3.

It would  have been a powerful  partnership with naturalized Filipino Andray Blatche, if Clarkson got his heart’s desire to play for Gilas in this Olympics qualifier.
Filipinos who  know their basketball are optimistic that with the Blatche-Clarkson tandem playing for Gilas, we can beat Iran and hope for a slot in the Olympics.
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“The 2015 Jones Cup champion is still the team to beat in Changsha,” said a Gilas insider. “If we are to aspire to qualify for the Olympics, we have to beat Iran, which got in our way in the 2013 Fiba Asia Men’s Championship held here in Manila and the recent Jones Cup in Taipei.”
The Philippines had a runner-up finish in both competitions.
We asked the Gilas insider what he thinks it would take for Gilas to beat Iran. We have toppled powerhouse teams like China and Korea in the past, never Iran.
He only had a one-word reply.
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“Blatche!” he blurted. “He’s all we need. Remember how he performed against the world’s strongest and best teams last year in the Fiba World Cup in Spain where he’d score in big numbers against the opponents….”
“Remember it has to be a vintage 2014 Blatche who will play in China if we hope to win the title. He has to be in an excellent physical and mental condition like he was in Spain,” said our source.
Blatche arrived in Manila for training weeks ago in August. He was overweight, slow and definitely out of shape.
But just when he was starting to sweat and was shedding a few ounces, his training program was interrupted. His uncle died and he had to go back home to the States to attend the funeral. His return to Manila was further delayed because he had to do some chauffeuring for his mother. He reported for active duty only a few days ago.
He only has two weeks to melt his fat and get his adrenals working. Andray missed the entire Jones Cup competition, and that’s about eight hard games.
Much will depend on Andray, according to our source. “I don’t know if he can get himself in shape in such a short time.”
In the last Fiba Asia Championship, it was only Marcus Douthit who played the role of a big man for Gilas and we won a silver medal. With Blatche—if he’s in  shape—we can  be more optimistic, according to the cage experts.