Another tour of duty for ageless Taulava

MANILA, Philippines — It’s not over for ageless Asi Taulava who at 45, has been named to the pool of 16 by Philippine national team head coach Yeng Guiao to serve another tour of duty in the fourth window of the FIBA Asia/Pacific World Cup Qualifiers.

Taulava, who first suited up for the Philippines at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, had thought the Jakarta campaign was his last with the national squad. But a solid performance, capped by an 11-point effort in the 54-point demolition of Syria last Friday, has earned for Taulava a second straight call-up. Taulava is now on his 20th year in the PBA.

“May asim pa si Asi,” smiled Guiao. “In Jakarta, he made good use of his size and was a threat from the three-point line. His game has evolved and he’s still valuable to the national team. Whoever said you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? We’ve included him in our pool for the FIBA Qualifiers.”

Guiao said the national team’s showing in Jakarta opened his eyes to the realities of the international game. “Now I know we can beat China, South Korea and Iran,” he said. “If we had one more week of practice and Andray (Blatche) in our lineup, we would’ve been in the final. We were just one big man short of winning a medal. In the FIBA Qualifiers, I think the only two countries we may not be able to beat are Australia and New Zealand but just the same, we can give them a good fight.”

Guiao said if Blatche played in Jakarta, China’s Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin wouldn’t have been as dominant when the Philippines lost, 82-80. The 7-1 Zhou had 25 points and 12 rebounds while the 7-foot Wang finished with 13 points and seven boards. The Philippines fell a three-point shot short of beating China, the eventual gold medalist.

Guiao has called for his first practice with the reconstituted pool at 8 tonight in the Meralco Gym. To give Guiao complete access to the players in the pool, the PBA has cleared its schedule of games in the Governors Cup from Sept. 6 to 18. The Philippines will play Iran in Tehran on Sept. 13 and Qatar behind closed doors in Manila on Sept. 17. The team is booked to leave for Tehran on Sept. 10. PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said the Board of Governors has set no restrictions on which players Guiao will tap for the coming window. “It’s all-out support from the Board,” said Marcial.

In Jakarta, the Philippines gave a glimpse of its potential by crushing Japan, 113-80 and Syria, 109-55 in the relegation phase to finish fifth. It was the team’s highest placing in 16 years. The demolition of Syria was particularly eye-popping because Iran struggled in beating the war-torn country, 68-55 and so did Chinese-Taipei in winning, 82-75.

Assistant coach and chief scout Ryan Gregorio said the game against Syria was over in the first quarter which ended with the Philippines up by 22. “We were 7-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first period alone with Asi hitting 3-of-3 and JC (Jordan Clarkson) 2-of-3,” he said. “Poy (Erram) and Stanley (Pringle) had one each. JC scored 12 points in the first 10 minutes and finished the half with 23 on 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-8 triples. Christian (Standhardinger) came off the bench and scored 16 at the half. Our defense the whole game was awesome. Syria’s 7-2 center (Abdulwahab Alhamwi) was limited to six points. He was a huge liability on both ends, too slow for us. He was -38 in player efficiency. In the end, JC scored 29 points in 24 minutes with a +42 efficiency. Christian shot 27 and Asi, 11 with a +38 efficiency. It was a total annihilation.”