A former executive of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) expressed his frustration over the embarrassing 44-point setback that Gilas Pilipinas suffered at the hands of China in the men’s basketball event of 20th Asian Games.

Noli Eala took to social media his displeasure, saying that Gilas entered the match with the wrong mindset of avoiding to lose rather than beating the mighty Chinese, whom they stunned in a dramatic semifinal battle in the previous edition of the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023.

With the 61-105 setback, the Filipinos surrendered their crown and bid the tournament goodbye as they failed to lose by less than 37 points and finish with a 1-2 win-loss record in the preliminaries. 

And by failing to advance to the knockout quarterfinals, the Filipinos suffered their worst finish in the Asian Games since settling for the seventh place in the 2014 edition in Incheon.

“Nakakahiya!” said Eala, the founding executive director of the federation who also served as longtime commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

“Gilas came into this game with a mindset that they could just lose, (mind you), not win, but lose by 37. Where is the national pride? They lose, 105-61, 44 points. Unacceptable.”

Gilas appeared to arrive in the Asian Games unprepared.

With the country’s top players opting to compete in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers and naturalized player Justin Brownlee not available, the federation scrambled to assemble an all-local crew composed of PBA players just to compete in the most prestigious multi-sport event in Asia.

The result was very disappointing as they suffered an 85-89 loss to Bahrain, which was powered by four naturalized players, before pulling off a 109-78 victory over Kazakhstan. They entered the match against China needing to either win or lose by 37 points to keep their flickering hopes alive.

But the 44-point massacre happened and SBP is now in a tough position of revisiting the program that led to the Asian Games debacle.

“It was a good thing we got the gold medal in Hangzhou though we have to wait for five years again to regain the gold medal,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, noting that the next Asian Games will be held in Doha in 2031.

“The question is: Why do other countries have so many naturalized players? Why can’t we?”