Knowing how to ‘stop press’

In news media, the term “stop press” means accommodating a late-breaking development just before the printing process of the paper begins. In basketball, the term “press break” means cracking a full-court defense to safely cross the half-line and set up the offense with time to spare. In a sense, the “press break” comes down to a “stop press.” Whatever the term, Gilas surely needed it against Australia in the third window game of the FIBA World Cup Asia qualifiers in Perth last Monday.

From the opening tip, the Boomers applied a full-court press and threw off Gilas’ rhythm. Australia switched, put pressure on ballhandlers, trapped, blitzed and did everything defensively possible to maximize their advantage in physicality. The result was disastrous for Gilas. Even inbounding the ball became a challenge. Beating the eight-second count to cross the mid-court line was another chore. PBA players aren’t used to this kind of pressure. Neither are Gilas’ imports in Japan and Korea.

Figuring out how to beat the press was a headache. Coach Tim Cone tried two point guards RJ Abarrientos and Juan Gomez de Liaño together but their lack of size was a handicap. Dwight Ramos brought up the ball, too, but when finding a free recipient was difficult, he went one-on-one, crippling Gilas’ fluidity. Australia’s defense left Gilas in a shambles. Gilas could score only 22 points in the second half and shot a lowly 28.1 percent from the floor for the game. It didn’t help that Justin Brownlee couldn’t play. The final count was a blowout, 92-49.

Gilas limped off the court with 19 turnovers from which the Boomers scored 30 points. Australia had only eight miscues. Three of Gilas’ turnovers were eight-second violations. From the onset, Gilas appeared clueless in attacking the press, lapsing into seven turnovers in the first quarter, including an eight-second violation at the 8:20 mark. Gilas adjusted in the second period, holding Australia to eight points and committing no turnover. But in the second half, the Boomers regrouped and were back to wreaking havoc, forcing six Gilas turnovers each in the third and fourth quarters.

Gilas’ problem isn’t a dearth of shooters. The lineup has excellent marksmen in Ramos, Abarrientos, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo and De Liaño. But they’ll miss if every shot is contested, if the table isn’t laid out for good looks, if there’s no rhythm in execution.

There’s a reason why Australia is ranked No. 6 by FIBA and Gilas, No. 36. Last March, the Boomers blasted Gilas, 93-66 in the second window with 10 players not in the roster last Monday. The only remnants were 6-2 Reyne Smith and 6-5 Mitch Creek. Coach Adam Caporn assembled a cast of four NBA veterans, eight with US college creds, two 6-11s and two 6-10s for the third window. To beat Australia, Gilas has to play a near-perfect A-game with an antidote for the Boomers’ full-court press. If Gilas hopes to make a dent in international competition, it has to, as the deadline-beating reporters say, “stop press.”