By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
As this piece is being written, the Philippine Gilas team is now with only one game left in the ongoing FIBA Basketball World Cup hosted by the country, Japan and Indonesia. It will be against our Asian rival, China.
The World Cup is participated in by 32 countries worldwide. Two groups each were hosted by Japan and Indonesia for the preliminary games; the Philippines hosted four groups. After the preliminary games, all succeeding games are to be held in the country.
Long before the 2023 World Cup started, basketball fans were already highly expectant of a good performance of our Gilas team. Just thinking of a very tall frontline that includes Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Junmar Fajardo, and Japeth Aguilar was already enough to think that way. The expectation was further reinforced by the inclusion of Jordan Clarkson, the Fil-Am NBA star to the team. Everybody hoped for two won games in the initial group plays.
Even some World Cup coaches predicted Gilas to win some games based on the friendlies played by Gilas before the actual competitions. In the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, Serbia routed the Philippines by 46 points with Aleksandar Djordjevic as the opposing coach. After the game, he said that Gilas” lacks quality”, which could be understood as they have no business being in the World Cup. Now, as China coach, he is singing a different tune before the games started. He said that the “GILAS team is a different one, they are a good team”, and is well-coached. Later, he said, “we respect the Gilas team so much”. Rajko Toroman also of Serbia, the first Gilas coach, commented that it is the strongest Gilas team ever assembled.
But horror of horrors, the anticipated outcome did not materialize. Instead of joy, the team brought heartbreaks to many local basketball fans. In the first game of Gilas, they were brought down by the Dominican Republic from South America, which is ranked much higher than the Philippines. But why be horrified? That team, in a pocket tournament, defeated the Canadian team which in turn, defeated France (ranked #4 in the world)by 30 points in the actual competition. We were outpointed by D.R. by only 6, 87-81
After the game with DR, its coach heaped praises to the local fans as “educated, respectful, with unbelievable behavior. They respected the game, the teams and the referees.” Karl-Anthony Towns, D.R.’S number one player and an NBA superstar, added that the fans are amazing.
The loss to the Dominican Republic did not sit well with many local fans. They were expecting that we will win against the DR team. This led them to start booing coach Chot Reyes thereafter, every time he is introduced and made decision which, in their biased opinion, are mistakes. They also started to catcall him right in the presence of the Gilas’ foreign opponents and their supporters.
They seem to debunk the statement of the DR coach that they are educated and respectful. What a shame.
The fans should understand that any team can not win every time. Even a U.S, team made up of NBA superstars led by Lebron James was beaten in an earlier World Cup championship. For this 2023 Cup, there were highly-ranked teams such as Argentina (ranked #4 in the world) that did not even qualify. Why so greatly dismayed when a Gilas team lose to a much higher team like Italy (ranked #10, and DR (ranked #23)-for a few points? France, ranked 5th in the world was even eliminated earlier than the Philippines!
Understandably, the behavior of the fans affected the play of Gilas in its next game against Angola, whether we like it or not. Angola was supposed to be easy picking for Gilas.
In the 2014 World Cup in Spain, Chot Reyes was also the Gilas coach. In that competition, he led Gilas to an extension against Croatia which was then ranked in the top 15 in the world. Gilas almost upended Agentina, then #3 in the world. They also made Greece, a top ten team, to sweat for their points. Reyes therefore made clear to the world that basketball is played great in the Philippines. From then on, they are always wary every time they face the Philippines in a competitive game.
So, why the hate on coach Reyes? He had brought honors to the country through basketball but his bashers may not even have brought honor to themselves.
The Gilas coach and the whole team have sacrificed a lot. They are not supermen, but they are giving their best shots to give honor to the country. No one among them deserves to be booed or catcalled. Its insensitive to do it. The bashers, many of them in social media, should show that they are really educated and respectful. Understand the sacrifices of others and appreciate them
I have seen all the Gilas games, and I believe that the coach was doing well and the players were supercharged to win. The games were so close they could have gone either way. That’s how good our Gilas team is really. The result were primarily just due to the breaks of the game. Let us continue to root for our Gilas team
Maybe a change in coaching is in order because of the presently “uneducated and disrespectful” basketball fans. The manner of choosing the players should also be changed. Get the best fit from every team, not only from the favored ones, if time permits.
My prayer is for our present basketball benefactors to continue supporting the sport , and for other sponsors to crop up to develop further sports like football, volleyball, badminton, tennis, pingpong and others
In another development last Aug 25, 2023, simultaneous with the opening of the World Cup, the U.N. General Assembly declared Dec 21 as World Basketball Day in a resolution led by the Philippines, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Peru. It was co-sponsored by 77 other nations. Let us see what will develop in the future in relation to this.**
