- Just as I opened my laptop, someone texted me that Gabe Norwood was called for a foul while stepping out of the locker room.
- Chinese Taipei has turned it up a bit in this edition of the championships. Lin Chih Chieh was a beast in their game against Jordan, masterfully dissected Jordan's offense. In consolation to Jordan, they were pretty strong... er I mean Jimmy Baxter was strong as well despite not getting the "apple of the eye" title from the critics. Indeed this Jordan team appeared like an 80's PBA team in an Open Conference, where they solely relied on the import. Had the locals not lost confidence especially in the end game, they could have avoided turnovers and they might have won the game. Close game nonetheless.
- Speaking of imports/naturalized players, everyone showed up and performed as they were expected by their respective teams. Unhonorable mentions include JR Sakuragi who was a lost soul in the 2nd half of their game against Qatar, Quincy Davis who seemed to gas out in their game against Jordan, and Jerry Johnson playing slightly hurt.
- I am really convinced that the Qatar-Japan game was really played in slow motion. I fell asleep while watching that game. Their movements were slow. They're bringing the ball down really slow. Their offensive execution was slow. Everything! Good thing fouls were minimal, or else that would've become a loooooooooonnnggg game.
- I fell asleep for five minutes... and in that five minutes I saw LA Tenorio whistled for a foul after ordering an oven baked ziti over there at Sbarro.
- I don't really know if it is the officiating or the size of the Arabians that defied the defense of Gilas Pilipinas. We all know that our boys prepared for physical action. And what a way to test our physicality by matching it up with people that are less than quarter the size of Ryan Buenafe. Plus we displayed our secret motion defense to those well nourished people, no wonder we'll get called for a ton of fouls... Look!
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| Photo courtesy of Nuki Sabio/InterAKTV. |
- And those fouls are the reason why Gilas' offense never got it going. That's why don't feel bad if we didn't win the way Iran won today. See the upside! They don't let us win, we'll break their ribs... right Marc?
- While everyone was complaining about opening day jitters, the Iranians doesn't give a shit about it. The only sympathy they gave on that Malaysian team was a moment of silence for Jack Ng Kiat Kee. Once the 60 second silence was over, it was murder time, and it was in the tune of 90 points.
- Now going to the other side of the "Group of Death", defense-oriented people surely loved that China-Korea game. China's individual defense was so solid, not letting up a bit. Korea's defense meanwhile was so complicated that just when you thought Sun Yue was free, a double team will come all of a sudden. Everyone always gets out of their spots, yet the rotation of the defense was so on target. For an offense-oriented guy like me, I'd be so pissed with that kind of defense.
- Last thing on China, I wonder if there is a bit of internal issues in the team right now.
- Bahrain put up a good game and a good overtime win against India tonight. Too bad we weren't able to see it.
- The last game of the night will always turn out to be the forgotten game of the night. Only tweeted a couple of times for that Kazakhstan-Thailand game.
- Last thing. Nice, decent floor. Please keep it MOA Arena. Don't remove it. Ever.
Games today!
11:00 - CHN vs. MAS
13:15 - TPE vs. KSA
15:30 - JAP vs. HKG
17:45 - KOR vs. IRI
18:00 - BRN vs. KAZ (Ninoy Aquino Stadium)
20:15 - PHI vs. JOR
22:30 - THA vs. IND
PS: Coach Chot Reyes was called for a foul after he picked up the morning paper. Man, those whistles are haunting me.
Follow the games with me! twitter.com/sirjaydelacruz
