Gilas Basketball Makes it to FIBA World Cup: What the Philippines’ Win vs Korea Means to the Filipinos
No one, not one single Filipino basketball fan, was seated as the clock ran down. Filipinos watching at the MOA Arena, Filipinos watching at home, Filipinos all over the world, they all jumped out of their seats and into a celebration frenzy, as the Philippines not only qualified for the FIBA Asian Finals, but also qualifying for a guaranteed spot in the World FIBA Championships to be held in Spain next year.
After 35 years, the Philippines is back in the World Finals of the Federation of International Basketball Association or FIBA. And we’re also going to play against Iran for the FIBA Asian Championship Cup!
It was a great last game, with Korea throwing out all their weapons at us and the Philippines still healing from a nasty come-from-behind win by the Koreans in the last FIBA Asian tournament, where a 90% Filipino free throw shooter misses his last two free throws and the Koreans threw up a buzzer beating three point shot off the backboard. Call it luck, call it fate, call it whatever you want, it still stung like no other. So this, this was something we worked for.
Watching the game, you could say that we won because of pure heart. With every Filipino player fighting for loose balls, for rebounds, for each inch of position on the court. We played defense that left the smart and disciplined Korean team stunned.
It was no easy win! The Koreans seemed like pure sharpshooters that made any semi-open shot you give them! Every the Philippines tried to pull away, here comes the sharpshooting Korean team with an answer, whether it be a three point shot, a four point play or a nifty scoop shot, they somehow never let us break away despite the deafening crowd at the MOA Arena.
But in the end, it was pure heart.
This win means a lot to the Philippines, where basketball almost seems like a national sport. The glory of the national league, the Philippine Basketball Association, or PBA, has somehow diminished through the heavy corporate branding and commercial. But now, Filipinos will be back and stronger than ever before as they support their new heroes that put us on the world stage. Marc Pingris, Ranidel De Ocampo, Jayson William and even their coach Chot Reyes, are now all elevating themselves towards seemingly Pacquiao level glory. So perhaps other than the Philippines in general, it’s also the PBA that is really benefiting from the full stadiums and social media trending fanfare of the FIBA Cups.
There will be another game for the Asian championship tomorrow vs Iran, a team highly poised to win. But we have something up our sleeves, we’ve got home court advantage from some of the biggest basketball fans in the world, and we’ve got a some players with the biggest hearts on the court! Go Gilas!
Gilas Basketball photo by @cammyaioki
Just in case you missed Gilas Pilipinas, Philippines vs Korea semi finals, here’s the highlights of that game –
Gilas Basketball: Philippines vs Korea Semi Finals Highlights from FIBA Asian Cup
Looking forward, it’s nice to think about the matchups for next year’s FIBA World Cup.
Philippine Gilas vs Spain
Jimmy Alapag vs Jose Calderon
Gabe Norwood vs Ricky Rubio
Jeff Chan vs Rudy Fernandez
Mark Pingris vs Pau Gasol
Marcus Douthit vs Marc Gasol
Philippine Gilas vs United States
Jimmy Alapag vs Chris Paul
Gabe Norwood vs Kobe Bryant
Jeff Chan vs Lebron James
Mark Pingris vs Kevin Durant
Marcus Douthit vs Dwight Howard
But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.
Congratulations to the Philippine Gilas!
What do you think this win means to the Philippines?
Laban Pilipinas Puso Gilas photo by @cammyaioki
Gilas Basketball Makes it to FIBA World Cup: What the Philippines’ Win vs Korea Means to the Filipinos
