DUNKIN’ DOUTHIT Marcus Douthit of the Philippines dunks against Chinese Taipei’s Wen-Ting Tseng and Shih-Chieh Chen in their game at the 27th FIBA-Asia preliminaries at the Mall of Asia Arena, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. The Taiwanese dealt the Filipinos their first loss, 79-84, and stay undefeated in Group A. NUKI SABIO/PBA IMAGE
MANILA, Philippines—Chot Reyes struck an emotional chord during his post-game interview after Gilas Pilipinas’ 84-79 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the Fiba Asia championship Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“First of all, I would like to apologize to our countrymen, our OFWs, in Taiwan,” said Reyes.
But almost so quickly that it could have been easily dismissed, he added something with the potential to court a firestorm: “I know they have been a victim of a lot of abuse.”
Whether or not the pressroom podium of a sporting event was the right place to talk about abuse, only time will tell. But there was no doubt that the OFW situation was a huge part of Gilas Pilipinas’ motivation Saturday night.
That’s why the locker room took on a somber atmosphere after the defeat. Heavier than the fact that the loss pushed the Philippines to a potential quarterfinal showdown with struggling superpower China was the fact that the team badly wanted to win for the OFWs.
Gabe Norwood admitted as much, although more diplomatically.
“The loss meant a little bit more,” said Norwood. “It weighed heavy in our heart.”
The game was played under an electrically charged atmosphere, one that was foreshadowed Friday night also at Mall of Asia Arena. While the Phillipines was rallying past Jordan, Taiwanese players walked into the coliseum and were booed. Those jeers grew louder Saturday, especially when Gilas Pilipinas rallied from a double-digit deficit early to take a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter.
But almost as quickly, the lead evaporated under the heat of laser-guided three-pointers from Lin Chih-Chieh, Lu Cheng-Ju and Tseng Wen-Ting, whose three-pointer off the glass gave Chinese-Taipei the lead for good, 78-77, 2:04 remaining.
“They hit some tough shots,” said captain Jimmy Alapag. “It’s hard to beat a team that shoots so well.”
The game followed the Jordan blueprint almost to the letter.
Chinese-Taipei silenced the crowd by jumping to a great start, nailing six of their nine first half triples in the opening quarter and then racing to several 11-point leads in the first half.
But the crowd, looking for fuel in the first meeting between the two countries that were involved in a shooting row at sea, found it in a huge third-quarter rally triggered by the outside sniping of Larry Fonacier, who had four triples and 16 points in a 23-11 exchange that gave the Philippines a 6-55 edge.
But inexplicably, Fonacier was on the bench when the fourth period started. Reyes went with a unit that included Gary David and Jeff Chan, who were a combined 0-of-7 for the night. As the two continued missing, the Taiwanese uncorked eight straight points.
Doom was just around the corner.
“There’s really no words to say,” said a glum Fonacier. “We just have to start from here and get ready for the next round.”
By the time Fonacier got court time, momentum had swung over to the Taiwanese. And the former Ateneo star could no longer get a shot off.
“I should have done a better job with my rotation,” said Reyes, who added that the team burned a lot of gas trying to come back after falling into a hole early on.