Blatche knows what ‘puso’ is about

SEVILLE – If there’s a player who best exemplifies the meaning of “puso” in Gilas’ battlecry, it’s naturalized player Andray Blatche. For the second straight game, Blatche played through throbbing pain in his right knee at the FIBA World Cup here Sunday night (yesterday morning, Manila time) and when it was all over, he said no regrets.

Blatche, 28, is putting his NBA career on the line by risking life and limb in putting the Philippines on his back in Group B action. The 6-11 center isn’t backing down. Against Croatia last Saturday, he delivered 26 points and 12 rebounds in 41:11 minutes of Gilas’ 81-78 overtime loss. He compiled 21 points and 14 rebounds in 33:05 minutes in Greece’s 82-70 decision over the Philippines the day after.

Blatche said he’s battling to try to give the Philippines a win. “We almost had it against Croatia but we’ll still in there fighting,” he said defiantly. His mother Angela Oliver and financial advisor Ingrid Bachelor were scheduled to fly in from Florida last Sunday but arrived yesterday instead. Blatche is very close with his mother and said her presence will give him a boost.

No matter the odds, Blatche isn’t giving up. Greece threw a variety of physical defenders to stop Blatche from scoring but he still got away with 15 points in the second half when the Philippines trimmed a 17-point deficit to only seven. Blatche said he noticed Greece’s 7-1 center Giannis Bourousis stayed away from matching up with him.

“I hardly posted up because if I did, they’d just swarm all over me,” he said. “They’re really big and if I’m doubled, I wouldn’t be able to see whom to pass to.” Blatche improvised by attacking from the outside on isolations or splitting the double team in driving strong to the hole. He was a marked man from the start and Greece made it a point to bang him up. At least twice, Blatche limped away after the Greeks roughed him up.

For a while, coach Chot Reyes used Blatche and JuneMar Fajardo together in a Twin Towers combination. But Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris countered with a small lineup to force another readjustment by Reyes. Katsikaris never thought he’d be forced to rethink his combinations by the Philippines. “I think we gave him a scare,” said Gilas assistant coach Joseph Uichico. “If you asked me before the World Cup about our chances of even staying close with world powers like Croatia and Greece, I wouldn’t know what to answer. But here we are. We’re competing against the best and we’re hanging in there. We’re in every game. We’re not getting blown out.”

Fajardo wasn’t a factor in the Croatia game with two points and three rebounds but lived up to his nickname the Kraken against Greece, collecting 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots in 10:06 minutes. “I don’t care how big they are,” said Fajardo, the PBA’s reigning MVP, in Filipino. “I’m out there just to fight and compete. That’s what we’re all doing.”

Guard L. A. Tenorio, who started in both games, said he, too, isn’t backing down even if he’s the shortest player on the floor. He was slapped a technical foul for a blow below the belt on Greek forward Kostas Papanikolaou. Tenorio was elbowed, kneed and bodied up but kept competing. At the end of the game, he was restrained by reserve player Marcus Douthit from confronting Bourousis in what could have been an all-out brawl.

Douthit came to Aboy Castro’s rescue after Bourousis pushed Gilas’ team manager who is half the Greek center’s size. Then, Douthit held back Tenorio who wanted to give Bourousis a piece of his mind. The altercation was triggered by Katsidaris’ remark to Reyes that Gilas is a “dangerous” team, meaning it plays to hurt.

“I took exception to that,” said Reyes. “What more do they want? Our 5-7 guy (Tenorio) is being defended by a 6-6 NBA player (Nick Calathes). If a 6-6 guy pushes a 5-7 guy, the 5-7 is going to feel it. It’s not the same the other way around. So how can we be a dangerous team? After the game, I told the coach out of respect, they didn’t need to score in the last few seconds. We didn’t even defend anymore. He explained that it’s a FIBA tournament and you play for points. That’s fine. I can accept that but what he told me about our team, I can’t accept.”

The exchange of words led Bourousis to push Castro and Douthit quickly stepped in to prevent an escalation. Reyes said Greek fans showered the Gilas players with invectives. A Gilas official called the Greeks “FIBA’s bully boys” for a history of sports violence. Bourousis was once involved in a brawl with Serbia’s Nenad Krstic.

Greece is in the World Cup as a wildcard entry after failing to qualify outright and landing in a tie for 11th place with Latvia at the FIBA Eurobasket in Slovenia last year. That caused the dismissal of coach Andrea Trinchieri and Katsikaris’ arrival. Greece took fifth place at the 1996, 2004 and 2008 Olympics and finished second at the 2006 World Cup after shocking the US, 101-95, in the semifinals. The Americans were led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony. The only Greek holdover from the 2006 squad is 6-5 Nikos Zisis who is playing in his third consecutive World Cup.