On August 21, 2018, the men's basketball and women's volleyball teams of the Philippines at the ongoing Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia suffered heartbreaking losses against their powerhouse opponents.
RELATED: The Philippine women's volleyball team battles its own inexperience and lack of cohesion, one baby step at a time
The Gilas Pilipinas team put up a gallant effort against China in a nail-biter that saw the Chinese pulling off a win but only by a minimal margin of two points.
For basketball-obsessed Filipinos, the loss was seen both as a lost opportunity to break the decades-old losing streak to China and at the same time a hopeful reminder that, if the two-point margin is any indicator, Filipino basketball is just going to get better in the days ahead.
New faces, new coach
Hastily assembled at the last minute, the Gilas Pilipinas squad at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia barely had the time to prepare and for the players to get adjusted to each other's playing styles.
Recall that FIBA, the world governing body of global basketball events, earlier meted out steep fines and suspensions against Filipino basketball players involved in the infamous "basket-brawl" episode at the FIBA World Cup qualifiers at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan a few months past.
In that episode, players from both the Gilas Pilipinas and Australian teams engaged in a no-holds barred violence that saw fistfights, flying kicks, and metal chairs being thrown in front of tens of thousands of audience assembled on that fateful night. It was a scene straight out of a war movie --certainly a huge embarrassment for the host nation Philippines.
With most of its top players and Gilas staples out of the bench because of FIBA sanctions, the Philippine team decided to pull out its basketball delegation to the Asian Games in Indonesia, to the chagrin of basketball-crazy Filipinos.
Last-minute turnaround
But at the last minute, literally weeks before the commencement of the Asian Games, the Philippines decided to field a basketball team anew following high-level talks between sports committees and organizers.
Instead, however, of the usual faces in international conferences, the Asian Games 2018 squad was composed of new names, handpicked by a new coach, Yeng Guiao. A spot was reserved in the new team for Filipino-American NBA player Jordan Clarkson, but even this choice was not spared from problems.
Clarkson, who plays for Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA, was disallowed by the NBA from joining the Philippine team. The NBA reasoned that the Asian Games is not a FIBA-sanctioned event from which clearances to play may be granted.
The NBA's refusal to allow Clarkson to play for the Philippines had many Filipino fans wondering aloud in the face of NBA's approval of Houston Rockets player Zhou Qi's request to play for the Chinese men's basketball team in the same tournament. Why the double standard, they rue.
Putting up a good fight
Later on, the NBA reversed its initial position on Clarkson's request, issuing a "one-time exemption" allowing him to play for the Asian Games as part of Gilas Pilipinas. But by the time this exemption was issued, the Gilas Pilipinas was well on its way to face Kazakhstan for the first match-up.
Clarkson arrived in Indonesia from Los Angeles via Singapore at the end of second quarter of the said match.
Thankfully, the Gilas Pilipinas team managed to secure a convincing win against the Kazakhs. It was only after such victory that Clarkson began joining the team for trainings in preparation for the upcoming match against China.
That match proved to be, well, a heartbreaker for the hardworking Filipino squad.
But all the drama leading up to that match, coupled by the extraordinary display of basketball skills by the top Southeast Asian squad duking it out against the giants of China, was not lost on Filipinos appreciative of the chance to see their national team put up a good fight until the last minute.
