What sets Gilas apart?

It seemed like an obvious call: The Philippine participation in the 2017 Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Championship proved that the country was still the superior basketball team regardless of the supposed improvement of some countries, the naturalization of a few Indonesian players or the anxiety over the seemingly lack of preparation of Gilas.

I kidded the young sportswriters that there was no need for any deep basketball analysis for this tournament. One side simply scored more points than the other. Gilas won by an average of close to 60 points.

But in the end there was still something to break down: Why was the rest of the region still so many steps behind the Philippines? Given that most Southeast Asians had relatively the same height (save for naturalized Filipino player Andray Blatche and a few players who stood six-foot-five), what made the Philippines a cut above the rest?

There was an intangible called abilidad (hoop savvy). It was not a basketball know-how that was textbook perfect although some players like Allein Maliksi and Matthew Wright had excellent shooting forms that seemed to be pages out of a basketball manual.

It was a skill that enabled the Filipinos to adjust to different defenses thrown by opponents and to make surprise shots. Years of playing in challenging amateur leagues and the PBA honed the Filipinos’ skills.

Jason Castro would blow by opponents or patiently find open teammates when defenses would collapse on him. Calvin Abueva energized the team coming off the bench.

There is also gulang (guile or street smarts) that always keeps us ahead of others in the region.