Gilas fever

Hoops crazy Pinoys were feverishly delirious with joy over the weekend after the unprecedented win of Gilas over the New Zealand Tall Blacks, 93-89, who had been demolishing our national team with one-sided wins in their four previous match-ups.

At this writing, Gilas has a final game to play against Hong Kong to complete a sweep of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in our bracket which includes Chinese Taipei. A sweep of our bracket automatically kicks us up to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah next year as an interim step towards the ultimate goal of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Barring a disaster of Titanic proportions like Kai Sotto suffering another concussion, Justin Brownlee breaking a leg, Scottie Thompson spraining his dribbling and shooting arm, Chris Newsome’s dreadlocks accidentally poking his eyes, or Dwight Ramos falling flat on his back while sprinting to the backcourt after a steal, Gilas will probably take this last game comfortably.

But honestly, even if these starting five standouts do not play at all, the next five combo of June Mar Fajardo, Kevin Quiambao, CJ Perez, Japeth Aguilar and Calvin Oftana, ably supported by Carl Tamayo and Blue Eagle turncoat Mason Amos, will still be able to beat Hong Kong handily.

Indeed, this 2024 version of Gilas is probably the best lineup that we ever had, not only in terms of individual talent but, perhaps more importantly, for having as its coach the most accomplished and winningest with 25 PBA titles, the incredible Tim Cone.

Tim, who is as Pinoy as you can get, exudes confidence and charm with great natural ease, win or lose, during post game interviews compared to the luckless Chot Reyes with his dour face when meeting the press after another hard luck loss punctuated by boos, whose unfortunate coaching failures and inability to live up to the impossible Pinoy fanatics’ dream of international basketball championships led to his ouster as Gilas mentor despite strong backing from MVP, a major Gilas booster and big bucks backer.

A sweep of our bracket automatically kicks us up to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah next year as an interim step towards the ultimate goal of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

However, what really makes this Gilas team stand out is the previously unheard of advantage of having one of the tallest front court players in our neck of the woods. We have of course wunderkind center, once in a lifetime, Kai Sotto who is 7’ 3” but has the agility, speed, shooting touch of a forward, deftness of a guard, and now the body strength to force his way to the basket and dunk against counterpart Asian and European behemoths. Ably supporting Kai in the post is wide bodied veteran multi-titled MVP June Mar. Their one-two combination, enhanced by Scottie’s magical assists, are a potent weapon in the post.

The highly physical Kiwis were outrebounded and thoroughly dominated in the post. And to counter the Tall Blacks’ impeccable sniping, averaging almost 50 percent from three-point range led by their captain Corey Webster who made 5 of 6 triples and veteran Tom Vodanovich, 5 of 7 triples, which initially confounded Gilas, Dwight Ramos and Chris Newsome applied in your face defense beautifully to contain the Kiwis firepower.

Let’s not forget the indispensable Justin Brownlee, another Pinoy as can be American, whose steady shooting both inside the paint and from 3-point range, and all around prowess, managed to keep the Kiwis at bay every time they threatened. Justin has saved us time and again, and the game against the Kiwis was no exception, scoring a team high 26 points on 8 of 13 shots, 11 rebounds and four assists.

But the big shot that really put the nail on the coffin of the Kiwis was Chris Newsome’s 3-point shot with 6 seconds to go of Gilas’s ball possession and less than a minute on the game clock, which gave Gilas a comfortable 7-point lead. The whole country I think erupted in jubilation when the ball swished the net from afar.

Finally, there is Scottie whose court smarts and overall leadership kept the Gilas team humming in harmony with occasional unexpected stabs at the basket and his phenomenal rebounding, at 6’ 1” a sight to behold!

Yes, truly this team could very well be the best Gilas ever that will finally fulfill the dream of Pinoy fanatics of a spot in the Olympics, and if the gods are with us in Los Angeles, even a breakthrough medal finish.

Until next week… OBF!