Nobody complained

It was a grueling road trip that Gilas endured in the sixth and last window of the FIBA Asia/Oceania World Cup Qualifiers recently. In five previous windows, the Philippine national basketball team never had to play back-to-back away games. Gilas had one home and one away game in each of the first four windows then hosted Kazakhstan and Iran in the fifth window.

In the sixth window, with its back against the wall, Gilas flew to Doha to battle Qatar and to Astana to face Kazakhstan in a pair of must-win assignments. In four previous road games, Gilas won twice and lost twice. The Philippines beat Japan, 77-71, in Tokyo in the first window and Chinese-Taipei, 93-71, in Taipei in the third window. Gilas bowed to Australia, 84-68 in Melbourne in the second window and Iran, 81-78 in Tehran in the fourth window.

Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao took over from coach Chot Reyes starting the Iran road game in the fourth window so his Qualifiers debut was uneventful. Entering the sixth window, Guiao’s record in the Qualifiers was 1-3. Gilas lost both home games in the fifth window.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial was with the national team for both road games in the sixth window and said the trip was exhausting. For the Qatar game, all the PBA governors, except for Magnolia’s Rene Pardo who had a previous commitment, were in Doha. For the Kazakhstan game, Blackwater governor Silliman Sy, Phoenix governor Atty. Raymond Zorilla and Alaska governor Dickie Bachmann joined the contingent.

The journey began with the first leg from Manila to Doha on Qatar Airways last Feb. 16, leaving at 9:25 a.m. Flight time was about eight hours and 30 minutes. That wasn’t too bad since Gilas didn’t play Qatar until Feb. 21 or five days later. The toughest portion of the travel was flying from Doha to Astana.

After beating Qatar, Gilas checked out of the hotel to catch the flight to Kazakhstan via Istanbul the next morning at 6:45 a.m. The players had no chance to take a snooze from ending the game against Qatar to boarding the flight to Istanbul. The flight from Doha to Istanbul took 4 1/2 hours on Turkish Airways. Then came a brutal eight-hour layover in Istanbul before taking the flight to Astana, leaving at 7:35 p.m. The flight from Istanbul to Astana was close to five hours and Gilas arrived in Kazakhstan at 3 in the morning of Feb. 23, the day before the game.

There was only one immigration officer at the Astana airport so it took time to process the arrival of the 32-man delegation. The immigration officer charged a visa fee of $60 per person and accepted only exact amounts because he had no change to give. Marcial said the passengers were grouped in batches of five so the fee would be an exact $300. The stamp on each passport showed that payment was made to the immigration officer so while no receipt was issued, there was proof of money changing hands. Since only one immigration officer attended to the passengers, it took over three hours before the Gilas contingent left the airport for the drive to the hotel.

Marcial said the team checked in at around 7 a.m. and had a viewing session later that morning. Assistant coaches Sandy Arrespacochaga and Ford Arao had flown to Astana earlier to scout Kazakhstan’s game against Australia and shared their notes during the meeting. At night, Guiao called for practice in the gym about a 30-minute drive from the hotel. The players were back in the hotel before midnight. The next morning, the day of the game, Guiao called for another practice, this time only a shoot-around. That night, Gilas played Kazakhstan at 8:30.

Marcial said the freezing below-zero temperature in Astana was a cause for concern. He predicted Gilas to beat Kazakhstan if the players shot the ball as well as they did against Qatar. “Ok condition ni Andray (Blatche), malaking bagay siya sa team kasi siya ang go-to guy natin parang pag walang transition, siya yung first at last option,” he said. “JuneMar (Fajardo), may sakit talaga, mahina boses at namumula mga mata, matamlay. Pag ang shooting natin sa Kazakhstan kagaya ng shooting natin sa Qatar, di tayo tatalunin, problema lang natin yung lamig.”

Fajardo played limited minutes against Qatar but when Blatche got into foul trouble in the third period against Kazakhstan, the PBA’s five-time MVP reported for work despite feeling under the weather and finished with nine points and seven rebounds. The Philippines blew out Kazakhstan, 93-75. The cold weather had no effect on the hot-shooting Gilas squad.

It was another night of no sleeping as after the Kazakhstan game, Gilas checked out of the hotel early the next morning to catch the Emirates flight from Astana to Dubai at 4:35 a.m. There was a delay of over an hour as the plane had to be de-iced. The flight from Astana to Dubai took 4 1/2 hours and because of the delay, there was no layover time before boarding the Dubai flight to Manila at 9:25 a.m.  The last leg was the flight from Dubai to Manila and that took eight hours and 10 minutes. Gilas landed in Manila at 9:35 p.m. the day after the Kazakhstan game.

Marcial said he was exhausted from the trip. “If I was tired, what more the players because they hardly had any sleep and they played back-to-back games,” he said. “You have to admire our players. Nobody complained. They were under a lot of pressure to deliver. The conditions were harsh. It’s different when you’re playing for your country. You’ll sacrifice everything and that’s what they did. Congratulations to each and every player who participated in the Qualifiers.”

Last Sunday, during halftime of the Alaska-Barangay Ginebra game at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, the PBA acknowledged the participation of the 33 players who suited up for Gilas in the six windows. It was a fitting tribute to the Gallant Men who gave it their all to bring the Philippines back to the World Cup.