No Pain, No Spain: Gilas wages bitter war vs Asia’s best for WC berth

MANILA, Philippines - It’s not even the Holy Grail of basketball, nor a gold in the Olympics. But a World Cup berth could be as priceless to a nation whose passion for the sport knows no border.

They never reached that conclave of basketball superpowers since 1973 and it took a feud among officials in Lebanon, the original host, and a strong leadership among stakeholders at home to give Gilas Pilipinas its best-ever crack at going back to its once revered place among the elites.

This is one endeavor that excites as well as terrifies.

Playing before the home crowd and nailing one of the three berths in the World Cup in Spain next year could be a dream realized. At the same time, losing it here and losing it badly could be Busan all over again.

It’s double-edged. Win and add to the lore of Filipino cage immortals. Lose and it would bring back the residue of that bitter loss to the South Koreans in the 2002 Busan Asiad.

Still, it will be two weeks of the best in basketball this side of the globe, giving the hard-nosed fans a chance to sit back and savor it all.

Gilas Pilipinas begins its quest against lowly Saudi Arabia while defending champion China meets South Korea in two of the three topnotch matchups kicking off the 27th FIBA-Asia Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay today.

Ranged against the Saudi side competing in only its second Asian championship in 12 years, the Filipinos go for a big win for the much-needed momentum for the tougher games against Jordan tomorrow and Chinese Taipei on Saturday.

Five-time champion Gilas Pilipinas and one-time bronze medalist Saudi Arabia play at 8:30 p.m. headlining the busy first-day bill that pits China versus Korea (5:45 p.m.), Jordan against Chinese Taipei (1:15 p.m.) and Japan opposite Qatar (3:30 p.m.) in the more exciting matches.

Iran is heavily favored against Malaysia in the 11 a.m. curtain-raiser while Kazakhstan is the odds-on pick versus Thailand in the 10:30 p.m. last game.

It’s India versus Bahrain in a lone match at 6 p.m. over at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

The Nationals held their last full practice session yesterday at the Treston Gym at The Fort then agreed to all go off social media to concentrate at the task of grabbing a ticket to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

“All your words of support fill our hearts with hope. But as we embark on the biggest battle of our lives, we will be offline from Aug. 1-11. Please pray for us,” said coach Chot Reyes for his parting shot on his Twitter account.

Gilas’ worked out defensive and offensive patterns  in their final sessions  against Jordan and Chinese Taipei.

“We don’t want to overlook Saudi Arabia but I must admit we’re preparing hard for Jordan and Chinese Taipei,” said Reyes.

A sweep of Group A plays versus Saudi, Jordan and Taipei plus at least two wins against Qatar, Japan and Hong Kong in the next round would put Gilas Pilipinas in its desired spot in the quarterfinals versus either Korea or Kazakhstan.

Reyes, however, insists they will not take Saudi Arabia for granted.

Third placer in the FIBA Gulf zone elimination behind Qatar and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia prepared for the Manila games on an African tour, beating Cote D’Ivoire, 64-46, then losing to Tunisia twice, 43-81 and 47-74.

Serbian coach Nenad Kradzic goes to war with all pure Saudi players in Mohammed Almarwani, Mustafa Alhwsawi, Mohammed Abujabal, Jaber Kabe, Marzouq Almuwallad, Ayman Almuwallad, Mohammed Alsager, Fahed Felal, Nassir Abo Jalas, Mathna Almarwani, Turki Almuhanna and Ahmed Almukhtar.

Saudi Arabia is the third shortest team in the tourney with an average height of only 6-foot-1 5/8 compared to Gilas Pilipinas’ 6-foot-4.

Saudi’s tallest player is center Mohammed Almarwani at 6-7.

In the last 12 years, Saudi qualified for FIBA Asia just once in 2005 in Qatar where it ended up eighth.

More of a football country, Saudi Arabia has played only a total of 53 FIBA Asia games, winning 28 of them for a 52.83 percent mark. The Philippines has 122 wins against 65 losses for a high 65.24-percent record – fourth best in the biennial event next to China’s 93.96, South Korea’s 78.20, North Korea’s 71.43 and Japan’s 67.86.

Saudi’s big problem is how to match up with Marcus Douthit at the post, neutralize gunners Larry Fonacier, Gary David and Jeff Chan and defend against point guard Jayson Castro, Jimmy Alapag and LA Tenorio.

Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood, Japeth Aguilar and Junmar Fajardo complete the team considered the best the country has formed in years.

Their goal is to surpass the country’s fourth-place finish the last time in Wuhan and bring the Philippines back to world competition for the first time since 1978.