Thais wait in ambush

It looks like host Thailand will face the Philippines in the much-awaited final of 5x5 men’s basketball at the Bangkok SEA Games tomorrow. But first, Gilas has to beat the winner of yesterday’s quarterfinal playoff between Indonesia and Vietnam in today’s semifinals while Thailand is poised to trounce the survivor of the quarterfinal playoff between Malaysia and Singapore in the other semifinal pairing.

The stars are expected to align for the Thais and Gilas to slug it out for the coveted gold in the cherished event. Thailand has never struck gold in 5x5 basketball at the SEA Games while the Philippines has won 19 of 22 editions since 1977 with Malaysia in 1979 and 1989 and Indonesia in 2021 the only other champions.

The Thais ruled out naturalized players for this competition, ostensibly to curb Cambodia’s abuse when it hosted in 2023 employing six “overnight” citizens from the US to reach the final. Although the Thai organizers declared they would follow FIBA eligibility rules, it wasn’t the case. Cambodia didn’t join the SEA Games anyway. FIBA allows each country to enlist a single naturalized player and the Philippines would’ve lined up Justin Brownlee. The organizers flirted with the traditional SEA Games policy of “passports only” at first but decided to enforce a modified FIBA eligibility rule. They gave the go-signal for foreign-born players who were issued passports before 16 regardless of ethnic heritage. Exceptions, however, were permitted like Thailand’s Moses Morgan and Freddie Lish who received their passports after 16 but got FIBA approval to play as locals.

Previous SEA Games players like Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Michael Phillips were red-flagged out of the tournament. Remy Martin was yellow-flagged, meaning his case was pending review. Gilas coach Norman Black couldn’t wait for the Thai organizers’ decision to accredit Martin and took him out of the roster. Martin was ready to come over on the first available flight to join Gilas and the indecision was painful.

The Thais brought in Mali’s 6-6 Ibrahim Diaby, 24, who has no speck of Thai blood. As of late last September, Diaby had not received FIBA approval as an exception. Diaby started playing in Thailand in 2018 and is making his national team debut at the SEA Games. In the Thai league this season, he’s averaging 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.6 blocks with the Thai General Equipment. Another curious case is 6-8 Thai-Nigerian Emmanuel (Junior) Ejesu, 21. It’s not certain if he, too, received a FIBA exception. Morgan, 30, and Lish, 34, are fixtures on the Thai squad as foreign-born locals. They’re both from US NCAA D1 schools and on their third SEA Games. Key local for Thailand is 6-9 Chanatip Jakrawan, 28, a tower of strength in the paint. To be fair, Thailand didn’t enlist Thai-foreigners Tyler Lamb, Maximus Williams, Martin Breunig and Thatcharin Narbonne.

Indonesia is tipped to beat Vietnam in the quarters and advance to battle Gilas in the semis. The Indonesians are bannered by backcourt veterans Andakara Prastawa and Abraham Grahita, 6-10 Derrick Xzavierro of Long Beach State (father is from Cameroon and mother from Indonesia) and 6-6 Senegalese Dame Diagne, 20. Diagne was naturalized in 2021 and presumably, made the 16-year-old cutoff to gain eligibility as a local.

While Gilas swept the elims, Black’s charges went through early hiccups before downing Malaysia, 83-58, and Vietnam, 78-67. Thailand, in contrast, was dominant in crushing Singapore, 84-37, and Myanmar, 133-38, but did just enough to repulse dangerous Indonesia, 71-67.