Fight for pride

Coach Cho Sang Hyun called SJ Belangel’s Hail Mary buzzer-beating triple to lift the Philippines to an 81-78 win over South Korea at the FIBA Asia Cup third qualifying window in Clark last Wednesday a lucky shot. With 2.9 seconds left and the score tied, Dwight Ramos barely beat the five-second limit to inbound the ball to Belangel after both Ange Kouame and Carl Tamayo were denied. It took a ton of guts for Belangel, making his national team debut at the senior level, to first, make himself available to receive the pass and second, take the big shot. Lucky or not, the off-balance banker went in and that’s all what mattered.

Cho’s remark implied Gilas’ victory was a fluke. He also made the excuse it was his first appearance as head coach. But nobody doubts that no matter who’s calling the shots on the bench, the Koreans play the same way, the same physical style, the same pace, the same three-point routine. It’s the secret to South Korea’s success in basketball.

Last Wednesday, the Koreans employed their usual bully-ball to try to intimidate the Young Guns and it worked in the early going as Gilas’ upstarts never expected that kind of rugged physicality. South Korea opened a 17-point lead and for a while, Gilas looked lost on the court. During timeouts, coach Tab Baldwin calmed the troops and kept them focused on the big picture – wear down the opposition, pressure, stay strong off the boards, make their free throws, don›t back off.

Sure enough, the Koreans’ physical play backfired. Ricardo Ratliffe was huffing down the stretch, two key Korean players fouled out, two more were on the brink and Gilas had a feast at the line, knocking down 18 free throws to the visitors’ four.

This afternoon, Cho is out to prove there’s no such thing as two times lucky. Vengeance is on his mind and the Koreans are expected to play even more physical despite the risk of a backfire. They’ll be prepared to break Gilas’ press and come out firing from all cylinders. In Wednesday’s game, only Ratliffe and Davidson College standout Lee Hyung Jung scored in double figures. This time, Cho will want more hitmen pulling the trigger. If Gilas doubles Ratliffe at the low block, the ball will be kicked out to whoever is open so the challenge is for the Young Guns to rotate quickly to cover.

The ability to adjust was evident in the way Gilas came back from a big deficit against South Korea and a lackluster first half against Indonesia last Friday. Clearly, the players are coachable, unselfish and know their roles. No one’s a star. Baldwin is building a foundation of a core that will stick, grow and improve together. In the FIBA game of four 10-minute quarters, things happen so quickly that the ability to adjust is critical. Against Indonesia, Gilas raced to a 15-4 lead then gave up nine straight points bridging the first and second periods. A 13-0 blast engineered by a big Gilas formation, a key adjustment, put the game on ice in the third quarter as Lester Prosper went scoreless.

If Cho is out to prove a point, so is Baldwin. It’ll be a war of wits tonight. The battleground will be stormy. South Korea will use the game to get ready for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Kaunas, Lithuania, where it will lock horns with the host country and Venezuela in the first round starting June 29. It will be the same with Gilas as the Philippines prepares to tangle with Serbia and the Dominican Republic in a separate OQT bracket in Belgrade. But more than a tune-up for the OQTs, the clash will be a fight for pride.