By: Magoo Marjon
It’s not Pilipinas Basketball if it’s not come-from-behind.
With 36 seconds remaining in what was a gold-medal-or-bust game for the Philippines in the Jones Cup in Taiwan, Gilas was inbounding from the left side down by one point against Team USA. Sixteen seconds after, the ball found the bottom of the net after it left the tip of Alaska Ace LA Tenorio’s finger. The improbable was upon us, Gilas Pilipinas was sitting on a 76-75 lead with just exactly 19.9 seconds remaining.
With no timeouts left, the Americans marched the ball down the length of the floor, a shot goes up, all board, and out of the scrum of all 10 players in the box, the smallest Filipino emerges with the ball. Yes, it was Lewis Alfred Tenorio once again.
Talk about desire. Gilas Pilipinas trailed by as much as 14 points in the third quarter. They were still down by ten before the five-foot-eight-inch Tenorio somehow got a reverse lay-up to go against the 6’9 Scott VanderMeer of the USA before the third quarter whistle blew. And from then on, he was a man on a mission.
Down by eight to open the final frame, Tenorio went at it again. LA pulled up for an 18-footer, got a hand on the ball on the other end and knocked in a three-pointer to bring the Philippines to within three points.
The next time down the floor, Gabe Norwood tied it all up with his own version of a three while the Americans were scrambling on D. LA Tenorio ended up scoring 11 of his 20 points in that fateful fourth quarter, including the go-ahead basket, but we all still had to hold our collective breath as the USA had 0.9 secs to try and win it.
The inbound from the baseline found its way into the US frontcourt. The pass was perfect, going 90 feet, just over the outstretched arms of our 6’10 naturalized center Marcus Douthit. It was caught, The shot goes in the air. Time seemed to have stood still… until the ball hit the rim. It was sharp, the US missed it. After years and years of seeing shots like that go in for our opponents in international tournaments, it was hard to believe. I almost shed a tear.
History was teasing us
All week long in Taiwan, fate was testing us, history was teasing the basketball loving Filipino. On Tuesday, South Korea, of all teams, was down by three when they failed to send the game into overtime at the buzzer. Pilipinas won, 82-79. The following day, Japan missed a handful of three-point attempts as Gilas hung on to a four-point victory, 88-84.
Then on Friday, Iran was down by two. Their ace point guard, Kamrhani, dribbled the length of the floor off a missed Pilipinas free thow, stopped at the top of the key and let one fly. As time froze once again, what would’ve been the game winner bounced out. Gilas Pilipinas beat the mighty Mahram of Iran, 77-75.
Come Saturday, Gilas took on the best Chinese Taipei had to offer. After a ridiculously intense third quarter, Gilas was down by two entering the final frame. Then the Filipinos looked to break the backs of the hosts by unleashing a 15-4 run led by the man they call the Lieutenant, to take a 69-60 lead with just under six minutes remaining. We needed to win this one as the USA and Iran already lost earlier in the day.
Those two nations, together with South Korea, were at 5-2 (win-loss), while we were just half a game ahead at 5-1. Our opponents, Taiwan A, were right in the thick of the race at 4-2. So you know everybody was praying for Gilas to lose.
And the Taiwanese were more than ready to oblige, creeping within two points after a 7-0 blast. It was a dogfight the rest of the way until Gary David knocked one down from deep to see the Philippines take a 76-70 lead with just 40 seconds left on the clock. The rest was history as Gilas took their sixth victory.
Filipino perseverance saw us through
In every single one of those last five victories, our opponents had a sizable advantage at some point of those contests. But the Filipinos perseverance saw us through. The never-say-die spirit that has endeared Philippine basketball’s most popular team, Barangay Ginebra, to their legions of faithful as well as the PBA 37th season’s Powerade Tigers was definitely prevalent.
A team with no PBA MVPs saw the rise of Rain or Shine Elasto Painter Gabe Norwood, with his steady, all-around impact play throughout the tournament. His teammate, 2012 Governors' Cup Finals MVP Jeff Chan was also a huge revelation, with Larry Fonacier, Ranidel De Ocampo, Sol Mercado and Gary David also making their marks.
While Norwood would’ve been a solid choice, first-time National LA Tenorio was adjudged Jones Cup MVP after his spectacular play in the last two games. You couldn’t go wrong either way anyway.
The underdogs found a way to conquer the Jones Cup for the first time since the Centennial Team back in 1998 (and the fourth time in the tournament’s 34 editions). And they did it in a very Filipino way. Bucking the odds and just leaving everything they had on the floor.
In the end, they definitely deserve our sincerest gratitude. Thank you Smart Gilas Pilipinas 2.0. Maraming salamat for making our basketball-crazy people believe again.
And the best part is, this is just the beginning, the dawn of our rise back to prominence in the sport closest and dearest to our hearts and minds. - AMD, GMA News
Soucre: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/271379/sports/opinion/a-jones-cup-not-for-the-faint-of-heart
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