ON A year when there were more misses than hits in local sports, the Smart Gilas Pilipinas basketball squad provided one of the saving graces by capturing the Williams Jones Cup in Taiwan for the first time in 14 years.
A 17-man pool featuring players with international experience, size, speed and outside shooting was named by Gilas-Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes yesterday to handle the task of taking the Philippine back to the World Basketball Championship scene next year.
Smart Gilas-Pilipinas leaves for Japan Wednesday to see action in the fourth Fiba Asia Cup (formerly Stankovic Cup), looking to land at least a top three finish to be able to head straight to the Fiba Asia World Championship qualifying next year.
There may never be another win like this. One hefty serving of native heroics was not enough so, for the championship on Sunday, LA Tenorio played his heart out a second straight night.
A middle-aged Filipino, so proud of what he learned the night before, approached Smart Gilas-Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes at the Taiwan International airport on Monday and told him in the native tongue: “Congratulations, you’re really a great coach.”
LA Tenorio, the 5-foot-8 Smart Gilas-Pilipinas starting point guard, certainly cannot compare with the greatest basketball player who has ever lived.
Up against a talented enemy in very hostile territory, Smart Gilas-Pilipinas got an unlikely lift from the smallest man on the floor and moved within another win of ruling the Jones Cup basketball championship here.
Iran displayed very poor sportsmanship after taking its first loss, courtesy of Smart Gilas-Pilipinas, on Friday afternoon in the 34th Jones Cup here.
The Philippines on Friday dealt perennial contender Iran its first loss, 77-75, to forge a three-way tie at the top in the 2012 William Jones Cup being held in Taiwan.
It’s always morale-boosting to win over South Korea and Japan on the basketball court. Smart Gilas’ back-to-back victories over our rivals in the Jones Cup helped restore our confidence in Filipino hoops know-how.
The Philippine five opens its Jones Cup bid against Jordan on Saturday afternoon and coach Chot Reyes was candid enough to admit that they never did any scouting on the Jordanians or their other foes in the tournament for that matter.
He considers it as a big blow, but Smart Gilas Pilipinas coach Rajko Toroman may be forced to exclude the injured JV Casio from the final 12-man lineup for the Fiba Asia Championship which starts Thursday.
Smart Gilas has a lot of cramming up to do with the Talk ‘N Text stars set to join the national team just a little over two weeks before the Fiba Asia Championship.
