We're just less than 24 hours away!!!
Less than 24 hours to once again host
this very prestigious event since 1973.
Less than 24 hours away to see grown
ups play basketball.
Less than 24 hours away to see our
neighbors land in our land. Hello China!
Less than 24 hours away to see our
compatriots humiliate and destroy those who oppress us inside the basketball
court. Hello Chinese Taipei!
Less than 24 hours away to seeing a
new floor design in the MOA Arena. Seriously, it's a kick ass venue with a shit
of a floor design.
Less than 24 hours away from
trending, cheering, and all-out supporting our National Team.
And I have 24 more different ways of
putting up one liners as an introduction for the Gilas Pilipinas, but let's not
talk about it here. Let's do it maybe in South Korea-Malaysia game.
This is certainly the real deal.
After we had a sneak preview of their semi success last year in the Jones Cup
and in Tokyo, to their battle for hosting rights against a semi-politically
challenged Lebanon, to their automatic granting of hosting rights, to that
botheringly long PBA Commissioner's Cup, to the formation of the pool... er, I
mean to the inclusion of Beau Belga, to the highly touted Lithuanian trip, to
the cut of Beau Belga, to the travel much farther down under, to the two games
that we saw them how they play, to the sight of seeing Beau Belga hurt Kazakhs
that are moving towards to his defensive position, and to the impending but not
certain inclusion of Beau Belga to the final lineup... (whew... too much Belga.
Makes me wanna call KFC delivery and order a bucket of rice and extra chicken.)
August 1 is upon us.
The 27th FIBA Asia Championship is
here!
This native land will stand witness
to first class Asian baskteball as this same country will try to regain it's
lost glory in the Asian basketball scene. Never before we were this excited
about basketball since... Ever! That's why our National Team prepared long (?)
and hard (definitely) to give our kababayans a thrill of their lifetime in the
game of basketball. Of course, what would be more thrilling than tweeting this
after Gilas finish third or better,
"GILAS PILIPINAS IS GOING TO
SPAIN FOR THE FIBA WORLD CUP!"
or this,
"PHILIPPINES IS THE BEST/2ND
BEST/3RD BEST BASKETBALL TEAM IN ASIA!!!"
or this,
"MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS! MABUHAY
ANG PILIPINAS! MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAAAAAS!!!"
Whoops...
Now that we are THIS close, how about
getting a final look on our competition. Since the last post, many things have
happened, starting with
the draw!
THE DRAW
• I remember following the draw live
on Twitter inside a KFC store, and I can't eat my lunch properly because of the
thrill of this activity. It's a good thing they made this one a
"pure" draw, instead of the old one where the top 4 finishers of the
previous tournament will be scattered to the four groups, the host will still
choose, and the rest will be drawn. This time, only the host chose the group,
and everyone was drawn. That's why we have a "Group of Megadeath"
this time. More on that later.
GROUP B: WE'RE IN THE NEXT ROUND
I decided to start in here because
I've been longing for this time to come to scream this to the Lebanese FIBA
Asia official that has long been a pain in the ass. From denying the country
the first time in hosting after a superb presentation, and awarding it to his
dear Lebanon the hosting rights after a Lebanese sentence of "We will host
the games.", to finally awarding it to us even though it's against your
will, to your Lebanon getting suspended, to you giving signs that you yourself
will lift the suspension, to finally imposing the suspension by the FIBA
Central Board and disqualifying them from the championship... this is for you
Hagop Kajirian. KARMA!
Okay now, where were we... oh, Group
B, yes...
• Here's what we know about Japan
besides having a crazy sex culture over there... their people made a damn good
anime series about a guy named Sakuragi, we watched it over GMA or on VLC Media
Player, we saw how skillful, lethal, and strong the players over there in that
anime, and from then on we built a perception that all real life Japanese
basketball players are as skillful as Akagi, Mitsui, Rukawa, and Miyagi. If
Japan was Shohoku, then the Philippines must be Kainan, or any other stronger
teams than Shohoku in the inter-high. Yep, we beat them the last time around.
They were bannering the same players - Kosuke Takeuchi, Ryota Sakurai (not
Miyagi), and JR (not Hanamichi) Sakuragi - when we beat them. And they'll be
bannering the same players again this time,
so beating them won't be a big problem because we did it before... just not an
off night.
• Hong Kong is another country that
has bad blood on us over other things that do not quite make sense today.
Remember what they did last time during the Azkals friendlies over there? They
kicked us out of the field with curses, trash, and other stuff they could throw
at the Pinoys over there. Heck, they even brought up the hostage crisis in
Manila that killed some of their fellow. It makes no sense to bring that one up
in a soccer friendlies. But since we're known for our hospitality, this country
won't do the same kicking out that they did to us. Just take note of these two
words when they meet in the 2nd round... National beating.
• Back in 2002, these Qataris were
out of the radar in the Asian basketball scene. How terrible this team was? Put
that 2002 Qatar team against a team that consists of 2001 Danny Seigle and
anyone who could play basic basketball just to complete the lineup, and the
Qataris will still lose by 10. Fast forward to 2007, this Arab nation was
eviscerating us in tune-up games and pocket tournaments. What happened in
between those five years was so mind boggling. Have they completed their
genetic research and cloned Michael Jordan's talents? Intensive training and
PED intake? God's gift? Who knows! It's 2013 now and I think we know now
better. Qatar is beatable, just not on an off night for us.
GROUP D: THE UNKNOWNS
• Well we know a little about
Kazakhstan. Their number 7 guy is a bully who is scared to the bigger bully,
Anton Pomomarev is an offensive juggernaut, and Jerry Johnson needs a lot of
Cobra Energy Drink. We saw them in a tune-up game and from what we see, that
was pretty much it for the Kazakhs, no more aces up in their sleeves
whatsoever. We beat them in that tune-up and chances are we'll meet them in the
quarterfinals. Beatable team.
• We also know a little about
Bahrain. Former naturalization prospect CJ Giles is playing there, obviously
not a kid anymore and takes basketball more seriously than before. And the
return to the Philippine soil of Bader Malabes, ex-green archer. Apparently
he's turning out to be the star of this Bahrain National Team... and that's
good for him. Only one sad story though, while almost all his ex-teammates
already played inside MOA Arena, he might not play a game inside there. All
preliminary games of Bahrain are in Ninoy Aquino Stadium. If they get in the
second round, chances will be there. Consider this playing inside the MOA Arena
are our wish for you on your comeback Bader.
• India... Hmmm... Three Idiots? Yes
that was a phenomenal movie. Wait, Indian basketball? No... Haven't known any
of it... oh wait! Here's one coming from the part of my brain where it stores
useless information and I can't forget about it anymore. Back in the 90's, there
was a showcase of PBA all-stars pitting up against the Asian Basketball
Confederation (now known as FIBA Asia) all stars. Several Asian names back then
played in that game, notably China's Gong Xiao Bin. PBA Stars won that game,
but I couldn't forget the slam dunk contest that was done during halftime. It
was a tall Indian guy who stole the show that moment. How? By being such a
retard dunker! He'd do all the tricky movements with two feet on the ground,
and then jumping up for the dunk after those tricks. The worst part is even
though he's tall and long, he barely reaches the rim. His higlight dunk?
Imitating Kobe Bryant's in between the legs dunk. Imagine him doing that with a
foot or both flat in the ground. The best part? After making the dunk, while people
are laughing at him, he's celebrating the dunk like he broke the backboard.
Please get that retard out of my brain.
• Since we got to Thailand, I
should've named this group from "The Unknowns" to "The
Jobbers"... hang on, it's not too late.
GROUP D: THE JOBBERS
In pro wrestling, a jobber is a one
who routinely loses in a match. Considering their neighboring group is Group C,
it's pretty appropriate to list this group as the one who'll do the job for
South Korea, China, and Iran. To be fair, let's consider Bahrain, India, and
Thailand as 3MB, and Kazakhstan as Wade Barrett.
While we're at it...
GROUP C: GROUP OF MEGADEATH
After so much hype of this group
during the intro, this portion will be as simple as this...
• Rest in peace, Malaysia. But
seriously, all the sympathies to Jack Ng Kiat Kee, who died of heart failure
while in preparation for the Championships. A message to his teammates…
continue to play your best for him.
• China. Iran. South Korea.
Haaayyy... I cannot wait to see these three teams destroy each other. I CANNOT
WAIT!
GROUP A: THE HOST IS HERE
Three bullets to show that the
Philippines made a proper choice.
· Jordan is not in their usual self anymore. The 2011
Cinderella team is now gone with their players lost either to retirement or
injuries; no Sam Daghles, no Zaid Abbas, no more Rasheim Wright, no more Enver
Soobzokov. Their new naturalized player Jimmy Baxter is still having trouble
jelling in with the team. They might be stronger, or weaker… we don’t know. We
don’t even know if these players already played international basketball. But
that could be the key – their inexperience. Gilas Pilipinas can show them a
thing or two about international basketball.
· Chinese Taipei… well… every time this team will appear in
my eyes, the first thing that will come to my mind is Tseng Wen Ting, the Taiwanese
center who is a cross of an F4 member and The Big Show. I don’t know if he
plays that well, but each time I see him, our bigs kick his ass all the time.
It’s a different story this time. They have a Quincy Davis who will back up
F4/Big Show in the paint. And of course Douglas Creighton, who incidentally
seems to be a poor man’s version of Jeremy Lin, the reason why they probably
don’t need Jeremy Lin right now. This is a potentially strong team, but we have
beat them so many times before. There’s no reason we can’t do it again… just
not on an off night.
· Aaaand Saudi Arabia. Hope they won’t do a Qatar this time.
I think they won’t do a Qatar this time. We can beat them.
Note that in the next round, we’ll
face the teams from Group B. A handful of winnable games will give us a good
place come the knockout round comes.
There you have it… our competition.
How about ours? Well… see it for
yourself starting tomorrow. Good if you have TV5 and AksyonTV right now… better
if you have Basketball TV.
See you at the games! #LabanPilipinas
follow my personal coverage here! @sirjaydelacruz
