It’s time to fulfill the promise of greatness shown by the hastily assembled Philippine basketball team with the help of NBA regular Jordan Clarkson in the 18th Asian Games.
Almost a week after Jordan spearheaded a sizzling PH stand that almost toppled perennial Asiad title contender China, the team that almost didn’t make it to Indonesia takes on defending champion South Korea on Monday to kick off the knockout quarterfinal round of men’s basketball at GBK Basketball Hall in Jakarta.
The winner of the 11 a.m. (PH time) contest advances to the semifinals against the survivor of the Iran-Japan duel set at 12:30 p.m. The other quarterfinal matches pit Chinese Taipei against Syria at 4 p.m. and China against Indonesia at 6:30 p.m.
The Koreans, who beat the Iranians at home in Incheon for the 2014 crown, remain slight favorites but the Filipinos are brimming with confidence in the wake of their narrow 80-82 loss to China last Tuesday where Clarkson exploded for 28 points in his debut for the national five.
The team PH coach Yeng Guiao formed from the mainstays of Rain or Shine and other PBA standouts not in the Gilas roster proved its worth earlier with a masterful 96-59 win over Kazakhstan in its Group D debut. Clarkson watched the latter portion of the rout that secured a quarterfinal berth for the Filipinos from the bench after planing in from the US with an NBA approval of his request to play for the national squad.
The Koreans boast of 6-foot-8 naturalized player Ricardo Ratliffe, who played for the Star (now Magnolia) Hotshots in the PBA 2016 Commissioner’s Cup. And although not as tall as the Chinese, they are also noted for their superb three-point shooting, a strong point of all Korean teams.
Guiao said stopping Ratliffe may be a problem but added the Koreans will have a similar predicament against Clarkson, who shot 16 of of his output against China in the third quarter. He also grabbed eight rebounds, issued four assists and had two steals.
The Filipinos have a long story of sorry losses against the Koreans, including a two-point setback in the 2009 Fiba Asia in Tianjin in their duel for seventh place, also with Guiao as coach. Korea dealt the same two-point setback on PH in their duel for third in the 2011 Fiba Asia in Wuhan. Korea also prevailed through a buzzer-beating triple in their Asiad semifinal meeting in 2002 in Busan. The Filipinos ended the losing streak through the Gilas five in the 2013 Fiba Asia in Manila.
China later downed Kazakhstan, 83-66, to rule Group D. Korea was the most impressive quarterfinalist against lowly foes in Group A, routing Indonesia, 104-65; whipping Mongolia, 108-73; and humbling Thailand, 117-77. Indonesia later advanced with a higher quotient over Thailand.
Iran and Syria finished 1-2 as the only teams in Group B after the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates. The Taiwanese topped Group C with the Japanese placing second.
The national dribblers, who finished a record low seventh in 2014, were reinstated in the Asiad delegation only because of a public outcry following an earlier unwise decision of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to withdraw them in the wake of an ugly incident between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia in the Fiba Asia eliminations at Philippine Arena in Bulacan.