World Cup no biggie for USA Basketball

Some nations like the Philippines and Australia are taking matters too seriously, sadly even trying to rearrange each other’s mug in order to qualify for basketball’s World Cup in 2019.

As a consequence, the national teams of both countries are now hurting physically and emotionally following an on-court brawl, among the worst in the annals of basketball during a World Cup qualifier at Philippine Arena in Bulacan last month.

Suspensions meted out after the melee by the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) are causing bitter beer faces for the Filipinos more than the Aussies.

With 10 players and two coaches suspended, Fiba’s action effectively decimated the Philippine national team, forcing basketball’s local governing body to withdraw from the Asian Games in Indonesia later this month.

This will be only the second time that the Philippines, a four-time Asiad gold medalist and bronze medal winner in 1998, won’t play since 1951.

As can be expected in a country where basketball is treated like religion, reaction against the team’s pullout was brisk and blistering.

While basketball’s have-nots are trying damn hard to survive the qualifiers, the United States team, the reigning World Cup champion made up of basketball’s biggest superstars, is letting the process run its course.

After all, basketball is only a game.

USA Basketball’s two-day mini-camp ended in Las Vegas last Friday, and what’s next for the national team that will defend the World Cup in China is up in the air.

If Team USA qualifies in February, 12 players will be selected from a pool of 35.

But even before probable national team members like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul and James Harden could see action, it will be up to the NBA G-League players currently bannering USA Basketball in the qualifiers to land a berth in China.

“We’re not going anywhere if we don’t qualify,” national team coach and San Antonio Spurs mentor Gregg Popovich said matter-of-factly.

Veteran Baguio newsman Ramon Dacawi has sent a “long shot” appeal to NBA megastar and philanthropist LeBron James that he prays “will find its mark.”

Dacawi 67, is facing a lifetime of dialysis due to kidney failure caused by diabetes.

In a letter to the James Family Foundation, Dacawi is seeking financial help for a kidney transplant because he said even in “my senior years and condition, life is still beautiful.”

Also a former mayoral spokesman, Dacawi is a longtime advocate of kidney patients and has initiated a signature campaign to ask Congress to make dialysis a free medical service.

His letter was shared with his permission by ABS-CBN Northern Luzon bureau chief Dhobie De Guzman.