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| All photos are courtesy of FIBA.com |
Twenty-four hours later, the loss still hurts.
It took me almost a day to finally accept what has happened.
But I asked myself, should it hurt the way it did?
We had a 1,000-to-1 chance of winning it all in the betting lines. We're ranked 34th in the world, and critics pegged us to finish 20th in the tournament. We're supposed to be routed by stronger, taller, and more experienced opponents. We are minnows, guppies, dilis stuck in an ocean lorded by whales and sharks.
But we proved them wrong.
We made Croatia, fourth-placer of last year's Eurobasket and ranked 16th in the world, sweat their pants and grind out a tough overtime victory. Their performance was so bad that standouts Bojan Bogdanovic and Damjan Rudez had to say they were "too nervous" with the game against Gilas.
What team is on its first world championship appearance since 1978 again? Last time I checked, Croatia almost got to the quarterfinals of the 2010 world championships if not for Serbia.
We made Greece, fifth-best in the world and one of the tallest squads in the tourney at 6-8 (compared to the Philippines' 6-3 average thanks to Blatche's 6-11 ceiling), lose its cool early behind our physicality. Nick Calathes was frustrated all game long that he had to pad the Greeks' lead in the end game.
So bad was their performance that 7-1 center Ioannis Bourousis shoved 5-7 LA Tenorio when the game ended. So much for sportsmanship from the squad which the Olympics originated.
And yesterday, we made Argentina, the 2004 Olympic gold medalists and third-best squad in the world, fight for their lives and play the toughest game they had to go through.
Yes, they didn't have Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino, but they are still the bronze medalists of last year's FIBA Americas. They are still Argentina – the home of Walter Hermann, Andres Nocioni, Pablo Prigioni, and (the late) Luis Scola.
Speaking of Scola, "Smile for the poster, Luis! You're on worldwide!"
But coach Julio Lamas stood there at the sidelines for two hours, nervous if he'll still have a job after the final buzzer with the way they were outplayed by the smaller Gilas squad. At the end of the night, it was status quo, as Argentina escaped with the W.
You know you made it when your opponents make excuses on how they played on a game they won.
You know you made it when one of the world's best squads make one of their NBA players shoot a three in the end game to make a nine-point lead a double-digit one, further improving their chances if everything ends up decided in quotients.
You know you made it when the winners feel like they just lost as much as the losers in the end game, prompting their coach to note that you are "the weirdest, craziest teams" he has coached against.
The minnows, guppies, and dilis of the blue ocean are really piranhas. Overlooked, underestimated, but unbowed.
At 0-3 and two games left, the Philippines' chances of advancing from the group stage is as slim as ever. But we'll take it.
Dray might be too hurt, Jimmy might be too old, LA might be too small, Jeff might miss too much threes, Jayson might be too tentative, Gary might be too cold, Ranidel might be too slow, Gabe might be too overexcited, June Mar might be too undersized, Japeth might shoot too much jumpers, and coach Chot might be too proud, but we'll still cheer on.
Coach Yeng Guiao said, "No top team in the world is going to take us for granted from now on." Its not tsamba that we stayed in step with the world's bests in our first three games. It's heart – puso.
So to answer my question, yes, it should hurt. Losses should always hurt, no matter how outmatched you are. Throw away all the rankings and past achievements. We are back in the world stage. We deserve it because we are one of the best teams in the world. Its time to prove all the doubters wrong.
There's a part of the song "Coming Home" which goes like this: "Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday."
Coincidentally, rain poured down moments after Gilas fell to Argentina on the sleepy Tuesday dusk. But the rain has stopped now, and there's nothing else to do but to bounce back.
Moral victories are over. Time to rack up those real wins, Gilas.
#LabanPilipinas #PUSO!
