They made the basketball world pay attention to the Philippines.
Philippines is about to have its third straight appearance in the FIBA World Cup. Gilas Pilipinas qualified for the 2014 and 2019 edition in dramatic fashion. This time, the Filipinos will serve as the host team in the global hoops summit that will be staged in Manila.
In honor of this massive achievement, let’s look back at five of the best Gilas moments from its memorable campaign nine years ago. During that period, Jimmy Alapag, Andray Blatche and the rest of the Philippine delegation played out of their minds, so buckle up for a wild ride down memory lane.
Hi, my name is Gilas Pilipinas!
Gilas immediately put everyone on notice with a spirited opening performance against a higher-ranked Croatian squad that featured NBA players such as Bojan Bogdanovic and Dario Saric. The Philippine team wasn’t intimidated at all. Behind Blatche’s 28 points and Jeff Chan’s 17, including three triples, Gilas had a legit shot at pulling off the upset. The game went into overtime and the Filipinos lost by only three points, 81-78.
Message sent, Gilas is no pushover.
Andray Blatche vs JJ Barea
Philippines versus Puerto Rico was another thriller. Blatche earned his keep once more as he tallied 25 points and 14 boards to try and match the 30-piece dropped by NBA champion point guard JJ Barea. In the end, the former Dallas Mavericks floor general successfully led Puerto Rico to a 77-73 escape act. But without a doubt, his squad, which also featured Renaldo Balkman, had problems going up against Gilas’ prolific naturalized player.
Helping out Blatche was LA Tenorio, who notched 18 huge points.
RDO and Jimmy put up a fight
Argentina virtually had five NBA players on its 2014 roster. They were Luis Scola, Andreas Nocioni, Pablo Prigioni, Walter Hermann, and Facundo Campazzo, who eventually played for the Denver Nuggets in 2020. Gilas was in for a gargantuan task. Still, the Filipino hoopers were able to push their stacked opposition to the brink, pulling within a single point with 2:09 remaining in the game.
Even if Gilas eventually lost 85-81, Ranidel de Ocampo's 18 points and Jimmy Alapag's 15 built on five gutsy 3-pointers helped reiterate to the world that Philippine basketball has its place on the big stage.
Gilas wins
After 40 years, Philippines once again tasted victory in FIBA’s flagship event. Of course, Chot Reyes and his wards had to do it the hard way. Gilas needed Alapag’s heroics from the free throw line and June Mar Fajardo’s breakout game to outlast Senegal, 81-79.
The Mighty Mouse scored 18 points while the Kraken added 15 in the overtime win that had Filipinos across the globe chanting "PUSO" from the top of their lungs.
Gabe Norwood over Luis Scola
Let’s close the show with a bang, which comes in the form of two nasty jams over a couple of Argentine bigs. During the group phase matchup between the Philippines and Argentina, Gabe Norwood shook the entire city of Seville by punching down a couple of disrespectful slams, one of which was against a FIBA legend.
First off, the hammer over Luis Scola off a fastbreak.
The second one still came from Norwood, who brought the axe down in the shaded lane over a helpless defender.
INCREDIBLE, to say the least.
Gilas, fresh from a pocket tournament in China, has now welcomed a new batch of players who will have a shot at making more history as the battle for the basketball’s crown jewel tips off anew on August 25.
(GM)