Gilas PH: Fighting the good fight

Hours before Gilas Pilipinas took on Croatia in the basketball World Cup last Sunday, hoop fans were hopeful for a win, if not a decent performance, from their national team.

Cooks and waiters at Dad’s World Buffet on Edsa managed to sneak in conversations about the game as they went about their duties. “Sana manalo tayo sa (I hope we win in the) World Cup, sir,” says one bright-eyed male cook in charge of the Japanese table. “Kahit dalawa lang. (Even just two wins).” Two triumphs were needed for Gilas to make it to the next round.

Even baristas at coffee shops were hopeful. “Malakas po ang kalaban, (The field is strong),” musters a young man as he worked the coffee machine. “Pero baka makalusot. Basta lumaban. (We could pull through as long as we fight.)”

Fighting the good fight was all the nation was asking from its basketball team.  There was clearly pride in their conversations with this writer as they were cognizant of how superior the rest of the basketball globe was compared to their hoop heroes. But all they wanted was to shock the basketball powers and to prove that the Filipino hoopster was still one of the best in the world.

They got more than what they prayed for.

Gilas lost, 78-81, to world No. 16 Croatia in the first round of the classification phase but it fell not without a kick and a fight. In front of our television sets, we collectively cheered as the team rallied, grabbed the lead, forced the overtime and then lost out in the breaks of the endgame. Cooks, baristas, drivers, laundry women and almost every one else in our islands were treated to a fighting team that did not give up at any turn.  That was all they ever wanted.

The analysts could dissect the game and tell them what was lacking in the Philippine game. But it didn’t matter.  They knew their team had the slimmest of chances of going deep into the tournament. But again it didn’t really matter. The team that played was simply their team, playing their game and with tons of heart.

And just like the exuberant Filipinos in the stands in Spain that cheered lustily, Filipinos back home roared just as enthusiastically. This was a Philippine team proclaiming loudly that we can still compete in basketball given the breaks and the right support.

Yes, it has been 36 years since the Philippines last competed in the world championships and quite a while since we’ve cheered together for the national team on a larger international stage. We did it, of course, last year when Gilas took the silver in the Fiba Asia to secure a slot in the World Cup.

I was telling my three sons as we sat in front of the TV that the last time I had done this was with my late father ages ago when the Philippines played in the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 1973 ABC, forerunner of the Fiba Asia. It was a great thrill to rediscover.

If organized support for Gilas is extended and the Philippine Basketball Association continues to back the national team because it is also good for the league in the long haul, then we can aspire to return to the world championships and compete for our countrymen who relish cheering for their national basketball team.