PBA's last hurrah

source: Joaquin Henson | philstar.com

There is no justification for the PBA to continue representing the country in FIBA-Asia competitions. The time has come to call it quits. Not because Powerade Team Pilipinas played poorly at the recent FIBA-Asia Championships in Tianjin but because a program can never be in place for the PBA to be title-competitive.

Let’s face it. The PBA has its own priorities. There are games to be played season in, season out with little time left for the PBA to maintain a national team for training and overseas exposure. It’s almost unfair to expect the PBA cagers to go beyond the limits of human endurance and play their lungs out in FIBA-Asia tournaments after months and months of giving it their all during the pro season. Besides, playing in the PBA and FIBA-Asia requires a tremendous amount of adjustment. It’s not easy switching gears when a player is used to certain rules.

Just in case you didn’t notice, FIBA-Asia plays four 10-minute quarters, imposes a four-foul team limit before penalty, disqualifies a player on five personals (including technicals), stipulates a penalty of two free throws plus possession on every technical, disallows subs in between free throws, prohibits players from calling a timeout, resets the shot clock to 24 never to 14, gives a free throw shooter five seconds (not eight) to attempt, does not recognize an injury timeout, applies the possession arrow rule on jump-ball situations and provides only five full time-outs (compared to the PBA’s six plus three 30-seconders).

The basic difference is in FIBA-Asia, the pace is frenetic. The PBA allows a lot more time to breathe because there are more timeouts and two minutes more each quarter. In FIBA-Asia, games are played nearly everyday. In the PBA, players get one or two-day breaks in between contests.

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Watching the recent Tianjin competitions, you’re convinced that Powerade had the best individual talent on a man for man basis – even considering the players from Iran, China and Jordan (the top three finishers that booked tickets to the World Championships in Turkey next year). The problem is lack of familiarity with the international game and minimal exposure playing together as a team cramped Powerade’s style.

If you compare the stats of Powerade and Iran, you’ll notice a major disparity only in free throw shooting (possibly, a function of fatigue) and assists (failure to execute as a team).

Here are the comparative stats (Powerade first, Iran next) – rebounding (39.7, 39.2), assists (10.8, 16.8), two-point field goal percentage (.499, .541), three-point field goal percentage (.307, .335), free throw percentage (.596, .651) and points per game (78.2, 82.2).

Coach Yeng Guiao did a masterful job of rotating his players to keep them fresh for every game. His philosophy of equal opportunity was evident in that not a single PBA player was in the top 20 in scoring. Cyrus Baguio was Powerade’s leading scorer (11.6) and ranked only No. 24.

In terms of single-game scoring highs, Korea’s Se Keun Oh registered a tournament best 31 points at the Philippines’ expense. That came in the battle for seventh as Korea nipped Powerade, 82-80. How ironic that the top score was against the Philippines. Only one other player, 6-1 Yusuke Okada, hit at least 30 – in Japan’s 148-45 romp over Sri Lanka. James Yap posted the highest score for Powerade, 23 against Chinese-Taipei.

Only Baguio averaged in twin digits for the Philippines. The only other player to score at least 20 was Jared Dillinger who fired 21 against Sri Lanka. Highly-touted Japeth Aguilar sat out three games and went scoreless in three. Willie Miller missed the last two games (losses to Qatar and Korea) due to a groin pull.

Showing signs of exhaustion down the stretch, Jay-Jay Helterbrand was a combined 1-of-21 from three-point distance in Powerade’s last three games – losing to Jordan, 81-70 , Qatar, 83-65 and Korea , 82-80.



The slump in Powerade’s intensity was clear after the Philippines was booted out of title contention by Jordan in the knockout quarterfinals. It was reminiscent of the Philippines’ two-point setback to Kazakhstan in the playoff for third after losing a heartbreaking one-pointer to Korea in the semifinals of the 2002 Asian Games.

The Philippines still had a chance to finish fifth after bowing to Jordan but two straight losses to Qatar and Korea dropped Powerade to eighth. The Philippines had little spirit left against Qatar and could’ve trounced Korea in the playoff for seventh but crashed out both times.

Did the Philippines overachieve in Tianjin? If you consider that it was the first time the national team qualified for the FIBA-Asia quarterfinals in nearly 20 years, the answer would be yes. But if you consider that the Philippines could’ve played better and tougher against Qatar and Korea , the answer would be a resounding no.

In Tianjin, the Philippines posted an overall record of 4-5 but managed to finish eighth. In Tokushima two years ago, the national team wound up with a 5-2 record, winning its last four and claiming ninth spot. Losing two close decisions to Iran and Jordan in the “Group of Death” eliminations doomed the Philippines’ hopes to making it to the Final Eight.

The question to ask is – which team did the country prouder, the Tokushima ninth placer with a 5-2 record or the Tianjin eight placer with a 4-5 slate?

China’s failure to capture the title has sparked a widespread clamor for coach Guo Shiqiang’s head. In contrast, Powerade ended up eighth and the PBA wants another crack because it “overachieved” in Tianjin.

With the PBA’s experiment over, Smart Gilas now moves to the forefront. Serbian coach Rajko Toroman has three years to whip the “new” national team to shape. Unlike a PBA selection that has built-in restrictions, Toroman has the freedom to assemble a cast with a naturalized player and a young nucleus whose focus isn’t to turn pro – at least, not in the next three years.

To the PBA, thanks for the memories. To Smart-Gilas, the door is now open to show what you’ve got.