MANILA, Philippines — With 7-2 giant Abdulwahab Alhamwi and 5-11 sharpshooter Tarek Aljabi, Syria looms as a dangerous opponent for the Philippines in the battle for fifth place in men’s basketball at the Asian Games in Jakarta tonight.
“Syria’s a dangerous team,” said Philippine head coach Yeng Guiao. “They have size and talented guards. They have a Serbian coach (Veselin Matic) and are very serious with their basketball program. They play the European style with a lot of ball movement and physicality. They’re a good test for our Iran game in the next FIBA window because (Hamed) Haddadi plays like Alhamwi but Alhamwi is a lot quicker than Haddadi. Our bigs will be tested again. Too bad we’ll miss JuneMar (Fajardo) and Andray (Blatche).”
Guiao will call the shots for the Philippines in the coming two-game window of the FIBA Asia/Pacific World Cup Qualifiers. The first game will be against Iran in Tehran on Sept. 13 and the second will be against Qatar behind closed doors in Manila on Sept. 17. FIBA ordered no live spectators for the Philippines’ home game as one of the penalties in the wake of the brawl with Australia at the Philippine Arena last July.
Matic, 58, was the former national coach of Poland, Iran and Lebanon. He took over the Syrian helm from another Serbian Nenad Krdzic who piloted the team at the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon last year. This is only the second Syrian appearance in Asian Games basketball. The first was in 2006 when Syria finished 10th.
Syria showed up in Jakarta without its three top guns, 6-8 naturalized player Justin Hawkins of New Mexico State, 6-5 former PBA import Michael Madanly and 7-0 Montenegrin-Serbian Ivan Todorovic. But Matic brought over eight players who’ve seen action in the FIBA Asia/Pacific World Cup Qualifiers with Alhamwi, Aljabi, 5-11 Sharif Al Osh, 6-9 Omar Ali-Chiekh and 6-10 Mohi Eddin Kasaballi leading the charge.
Alhamwi, whose listed weight is 250 pounds, is a dominant inside presence. In the Asian Games, he hit 7-of-12 field goals and scored 19 points in Syria’s 68-55 loss to Iran. Then, Alhamwi compiled seven blocks in Syria’s 82-75 setback to Chinese-Taipei and had 10 points, eight rebounds and four swats in Syria’s 76-66 win over Indonesia. In the FIBA Qualifiers, he’s averaging 8.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks over six games. He’s backed up by Aljabi who fired 28 against Chinese-Taipei and 33 against Indonesia, knocking down a combined 6-of-11 triples.
Syria’s aggressive style gave Indonesia fits in defense. Syria took 34 free throws to Indonesia’s 13 and had a 15-point advantage from the line. Syria also clobbered Indonesia off the boards, 47-33. A chink in Syria’s armor was exposed by Indonesia as Matic’s squad committed 23 turnovers.
Assistant coach/chief scout Ryan Gregorio said Jordan Clarkson will play his last game for the Philippines tonight. “But if his schedule permits, he’ll be more than happy to wear the Philippine jersey again,” said Gregorio. “JC told me he loves playing for the Philippines.” From Jakarta, Clarkson will head back to the US to prepare for training camp with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The NBA gave the SBP the option of playing Clarkson either in the Asian Games or the FIBA Asia/Pacific World Cup Qualifiers.
Gregorio said the Philippines is going all-out to salvage fifth place. “Coach Yeng told us it’s important to improve on our standing as we were seventh in the last Asian Games in Incheon four years ago,” he said. Win or lose against Syria, the Philippines will finish higher than in the previous Asian Games but fifth place is the target. Winding up fifth will tie the Philippines’ finish in 1970 and 1978 and it will be higher than in 1966, 2010 and 2014. Fifth will be the highest finish in eight years.