MANILA, Philippines - Before the recently concluded FIBA Stankovic Cup began, it seemed like the only reason for joining was to avoid facing sanctions from FIBA for skipping the tournament; the mere thought of even competing for a place in this tourney was an afterthought. But once again, the heart of the Philippine team proved greater than we all thought. The Smart Gilas team was coming into this tournament off a poor showing in the Jones Cup, and minus three centers — Marcus Douthit, Greg Slaughter, Rabeh Al-Husseini — and wingman Chris Lutz. But, luckily, when it seemed that the team was destined to go with Jason Ballesteros as their lone center, Coca-Cola Management allowed Asi Taulava to join the team on the eve of their departure for Lebanon. And then another setback just when things were getting better: a few days before departure, Japeth Aguilar suffered a freak accident and required some stitching on cuts in his lower body.
Despite being placed in the “group of death,” we were able to finish third in our group with victories over Syria and Jordan. Winning over the latter team was a very tall order. Jordan may have also lost to other teams but this was after their key players got injured (Abbas during a game, and another after tripping while walking); Gilas team played them when they had a complete lineup . (This very same Jordan team recently beat New Zealand, ranked 13th in the world, in an exhibition game.) We came close to beating Lebanon in the eliminations until a seven-point play brought about by Marcio Lassiter’s intentional and technical fouls doomed us. The Qatar team, led by Targuy Ngombo, defeated us twice, once in the eliminations and in the third place game. Ngombo is a 6’5” forward whom RP team coach Raijko Toroman considers an NBA-caliber player. Qatar has now emerged as a new powerhouse in Asia. They have three new players in their team and is still yet to see action from another big man who is injured. The funny thing, though, is that, out of all their players, about three are Middle Eastern and the rest mostly African.
Not to take away anything from Lebanon, but it seemed that the tournament being held in their country really favored them. Their team hotel was about 15 minutes away from the stadium where the games were held, while lower-ranked opponents like Syria, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei and Iran Team-B were put in a hotel one hour away from the stadium. Stronger opponents like Philippines, Qatar, Jordan and Japan stayed in a hotel two hours away from the venue, a distance that required these teams to leave four hours before their games. After the tournament, Lebanon seriously considering backing out of hosting the 2011 Asian Games because of how poorly things were organized. (China, on the other hand, is pushing hard to host the tournament because they realize that other teams are slowly catching up and, without Yao Ming, they will need every advantage they can get.)
Going back to the Stankovic Cup, we defeated Iran and advanced to play Lebanon in the semifinals. The Philippines played one of their best games as a team but lost to Lebanon 81-80 in a game that left many respecting Gilas. This Lebanon team demolished all their opponents in the tournament and recently defeated the Canadian national team, and lost to the Argentinean team by only seven points. After our game, Lebanese fans went up to Coach Raijko and told him that they could not believe the heart of his team and that they would cheer for the Philippines in their next game.
Another consolation was that we almost won despite the referees practically dooming our team. With the Lebanese President watching from the sidelines, the pressure on the referees to favor Lebanon was enormous. The three referees for the game were Chinese, Syrian and Serbian. After the game, as Coach Raijko was talking to the Serbian referee, the referee admitted that his colleagues were making senseless calls. He said that he blew his whistle so many times despite being stationed behind the play near the half-court line because the referees in front would never call fouls against Lebanon, while we were called for a foul every time our team touched any of the Lebanese players. Coach conceded that if the Serbian referee wasn’t there to balance things out, the other two referees would have affected the game more.
Still, the result of this tournament gives us a lot of hope for our future. We were missing key players, while Asi Taulava practiced with the team for just a week, making it impossible for him to fully integrate himself into coach’s complex system. With the addition of possibly Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes, the only two players Coach Raijko really wants from the PBA, he feels they will be complete and will compete with anyone from Asia. All we can do is continue to support and believe, and never question the heart of this team again.
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