Any basketball team has its ups and downs, and Gilas Pilipinas knows that too well. Team Pilipinas has seen both sides, from the spectacular highs to the gut-wrenching lows.
Gilas Pilipinas has had quite the highs, giving this basketball-crazy country great thrills and something to cheer for. Yet the program has also seen some lows, leaving fans in pain, or fuming. Let’s take a look at the three best moments, and of course, three low points of the country’s basketball squad.
HighsMaking the 2014 FIBA World Cup
Gilas’ best moment has got to be making it to the 2014 World Cup—a return to the world stage 36 years in the making. This was especially sweet because Gilas beat long-time tormentor, South Korea, before a jam-packed, rip-roaring full house at MOA Arena. It was an end-game to remember, with Gilas engineering a 13-4 wind-up highlighted by two Jimmy Alapag triples and a Gabe Norwood block on South Korean gunner Kim Mingoo.
Flexing at the World Cup
The 2014 FIBA World Cup reintroduced the Philippines back to the biggest stage of basketball. And while Gilas dropped its first four assignments, it ended on a high note, beating Senegal in an overtime thriller. It marked the country’s first World Cup win since 1940. But three of those four losses? They were three of the most thrilling games of that tournament—a 78-81 OT loss to Croatia, an 81-85 near-upset of Argentina, and a 73-77 heartbreaker versus Puerto Rico. All of Croatia, Argentina, and Puerto Rico were higher-ranked teams, but Gilas almost beat them.
Finishing fourth at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships
The all-amateur Gilas 1.0 nearly sent the Philippines to the 2012 London Games, falling just a win short at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships. That team was made up of young upstarts like JV Casio, Marcio Lassiter, and Mark Barroca. It also showed the wisdom of having a long-term basketball program.
Lows
The Gilas-Boomers brawl
This July 2, 2018 game between Gilas and the Boomers of Australia will forever live in infamy, as several Gilas players were front and center in arguably the biggest brawl in recent basketball memory. It was an ugly melee, one that saw Gilas gang up on Australian guard Nathan Sobey and Carl Bryan Cruz chasing forward Chris Goulding from the baseline all the way to halfcourt.
Losing SEA Games supremacy
The Philippines had won 18 of the previous 20 gold medals in SEA Games basketball—including the last 13. But this run of dominance was abruptly ended in the 2021 SEA Games, when Indonesia, helmed ironically by Gilas 1.0 coach Rajko Toroman, beat Team Pilipinas, 85-81, in the final game of the tournament.
The own goal controversy
The 2014 Asian Games was a massive letdown. That the team finished 7th was bad enough. Worse was Marcus Douthit, upon instructions from Coach Chot Reyes, shooting at Gilas’ own basket in a futile and embarrassing attempt to send the game to OT (so it could potentially win by 10 points or more and get to the medal rounds). It was truly a “what-the-f---” moment.
With the 2023 FIBA World Cup just months away, we are hoping Gilas can add to their collection of best moments, not to their list of embarrassing failures. Now, we wait.