UNDERGOAL BLAST Filipino ace Jason Castro eludes Iran’s giant center Hamed Haddadi in an undergoal strike during Monday’s Fiba Asia Championship skirmish won by Gilas Pilipinas, 87-73. FIBA.COM
CHANGSHA CITY, China—Gilas Pilipinas was up against an enemy in the Fiba Asia Championship that no one had been able to touch with a 10-foot pole.
Short in size and heft after some Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) superstars elected not to join the national team, the Filipinos put that all aside on Monday afternoon and shattered Iran’s seeming myth of invincibility with an 87-73 victory, tilting the balance of power in the continental Olympic Qualifier at Changsha Social Work College Gym here.
“This game was won by individuals playing as a team,” coach Tab Baldwin told international media, who were seemingly shocked at the way the Filipinos made the Iranians look bad in the final two periods by using the zone defense to great effect.
“To many who don’t know Philippine basketball, it won’t make sense,” Baldwin said. “But today, we really exploited the individual skills of our players.”
Individually, Baldwin had two players who stood head and shoulders above everyone else.
Jason Castro mocked all defenders thrown at him on the way to a team-high 26 points, and Andray Blatche took the 7-foot-2 giant Hamed Haddadi to school inside the paint as the Philippines rallied from 10 points down early in the third period to wrest top seeding in Group E and paint a rosier path to a gold-medal game.
Terrence Romeo had some great one-on-one plays and finished with 15 points, and fellow rookie Calvin Abueva came off the bench to contribute 13 that went with six rebounds and a game-long hustle that made him stand out in the game.
The win put the Filipinos on top of Group E at 3-1, tied with Iran but with the advantage in the tie breaker because of the winner-over-the-other rule.
Iran came into the game highly favored to win after having bamboozled its first four foes by an average margin of more than 45 points.
The victory also totally erased the stigma and dire consequences of the shock 75-73 loss Gilas absorbed at the hands of tournament newcomer Palestine last week, which had put powerhouse host China in a final four collision course with the Filipinos.
The Philippines battles India at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a game everyone in the squad agrees is the most important for the Filipinos thus far.
“We can’t go out there and think high and mighty,” Blatche, who finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, four steals, a block and an assist, said of the India game.
A win would seal top group ranking for the Filipinos and ensure they face a lighter foe in the knockout quarterfinal phase.
‘An excellent game’
“All of our efforts will amount to nothing if we lose to India,” guard Gabe Norwood said. “We have to sustain the tempo and continue to be hungry. We can’t afford to look past those guys (Indians).”
Dirk Bauermann, the Iranian coach who kept telling everyone in the Jones Cup last month that the Philippines was one of the favorites in this tournament, was proven right by the Filipinos, albeit at his expense.
“I thought they played an excellent game,” Bauermann said. “If they play the way they did today, they’re a very good team. When they share the ball, they are very difficult to beat.”
Gilas Pilipinas forward Marc Pingris clenches his fists after beating Iran on Monday. Photo from Fiba.com
Bauermann was looking at his team’s second-quarter meltdown, which didn’t appear that way since they ended the first half ahead, 43-37.
That buffer would have been bigger had Ranidel de Ocampo not beaten the halftime clock with a triple.
Nine straight points
Gilas trailed, 37-47, with still 8:33 left in the third quarter, after a Nikka Bahrami three-pointer, before waking up.
Nine unanswered points got the Filipinos back in the mix before they seized command to end the third period with a 65-60 lead.
Iran lapsed into a series of turnovers with Mahdi Kamrani—the third member of Iran’s vaunted world-class troika—failing to hold the team together.
A 15-7 spurt in the first 6:30 of the fourth period all but put the game away for the Philippines, 80-67.
Haddadi, the former Memphis Grizzly in the National Basketball Association (NBA), was so frustrated he literally pulled himself out of the game with four minutes left by committing a disqualifying technical foul on a driving Abueva.
“The Philippine team played great,” Kamrani, Iran’s heady point guard, told the Inquirer.
Iran-China confrontation
Asked about Iran’s colossal inevitable confrontation with the Chinese in the semifinals should current forms hold, Kamrani said, “I guess that’s what will happen.”
The top four teams from each group after this round will advance to the knockout stages, with the highest-ranked squad drawing the lowest finisher as a quarterfinal foe, and so on.
If the Philippines does beat India on Tuesday, and China and South Korea finish 1-2 as expected in the other bracket, the Philippines could wind up facing either Jordan, Lebanon or Qatar in the quarterfinals.
China, meanwhile, will draw the No. 4 squad in the Gilas-Iran bracket, which could be Japan.
The host could go on to clash with Iran in the next match the following day, leaving a Korea-Philippines showdown in the other half of the semifinals.
Memories of 1986
Bahrami paced Iran with 21 points, while Haddadi finished with just 10 and seven rebounds.
The Philippines hasn’t won this tournament, then known as the Asian Basketball Confederation, since the defunct Northern Consolidated squad ruled it in 1986 in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Coached by Ron Jacobs, that NCC crew was assembled for Asian dominance by then-basketball godfather Danding Cojuangco, only to be disbanded when the Edsa People Power Revolution took place.
The scores:
Gilas Pilipinas 87—Castro 26, Blatche 18, Romeo 15, Abueva 13, Norwood 5, de Ocampo 5, Hontiveros 3, Taulava 2, Intal 0, Pingris 0, Ganuelas 0, Thoss 0.
Iran 73—Bahrami 21, Masyakeyvi 11, Kamrani 11, Haddadi 10, Davari 9, Jamshidijafarabadi 7, Davarpanahfard 2, Hassanzadeh 2, Yahchalidehkordi 0, Afagh 0, Sahakian 0.
Quarters: 22-25, 37-43, 65-60, 87-73