Middle East fives loom new Asian powers

MANILA, Philippines - The just-concluded 31st William Jones Cup competition in Taipei showed Middle Eastern countries as emerging powerhouse teams or new threats to China for supremacy in Asian basketball.

RP-Powerade coach Yeng Guiao made this assessment at the close of the nine-day, nine-nation event dominated by Middle East neighbors Iran, Lebanon and Jordan.

The Iranians, the reigning Fiba-Asia champions, won the crown by beating the Lebanese and the Jordanians in the tiebreak.

Powerade Team Pilipinas, with only two wins against six losses, placed sixth - the lowest finish by a PBA selection in the annual tourney ruled by the Filipinos in 1981, 1985 and 1998.

“With their size, their NBA players, their naturalized players and their big improvement, these Middle East teams are now really tough to beat,” said Guiao.

“It’s (the Jones Cup experience) a realization that the Asian countries are beatable. We can beat them with little preparation. Against the Middle East teams, we have to have luck on our side. We need exceptional three-point shooting to beat them,” Guiao said.

The fiery national mentor, however, remains confident of the Nationals’ chances in the upcoming Fiba-Asia Championship.

“It’s a big task but not a mission impossible,” said Guiao whose team needs to make the Top Three in the Tianjin, China competition to gain a return stint to the Turkey World Championship next year.

“We already had the luck in the draw. Assuming we can’t beat Iran (in the A and B cluster), I think all others (Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Chinese-Taipei and Kuwait) are beatable. We have a realistic chance to make the quarters. But after that, things would already be doubly tough for us,” Guiao said.

Returning from the Taipei competition yesterday, the Nationals will immediately buckle down to work starting today.

“We have asked the boys to eat, drink and think Fiba-Asia in this final week of our training. We’ll have twice-a-day practice, including viewing session. We will really go hard on them in practice until our departure for Tianjin,” said Guiao.

“Definitely, we have to make changes in terms of our approach to our rivals. We have to run screen plays. They don’t call these on international play. We’ll push the guys to get in better shape and we’ll sharpen up our three-point shooting,” Guiao said.

If plans push through, the Nationals will play the Lebanese in a tune-up match at the Ynares Sports Complex Sunday.

The Lebanon team took the same flight with RP-Powerade from Taipei. As in 2007 Fiba-Asia, the Lebanese are laying over in Manila, doing their final training here before proceeding to Tianjin.

With two NBA veterans in Jackson Vroman and Matt Freije, Lebanon is among the favorites to figure prominently in the championship race in the Asian joust.

Lebanon lost to Iran and Jordan in the Jones Cup as Vroman and Freije arrived late for the tourney.