Philippines downs Jordan; China, Iran triumph

Who says Gilas-Pilipinas can’t shoot from the outside?
Playing with the form that was a far departure from the one they showed just a night back, the Filipinos on Friday played a second half to remember and repulsed Jordan, 77-71, to guarantee their advance into the second round of the 27th Fiba-Asia Championship.
Egged on by an animated hometown crowd of almost 19,000 at the Mall of Asia Arena, the Filipinos dug deep in the final two periods and came up with a 17-0 spurt in one crucial stretch of the third quarter to complete a comeback from as many as 10 points down in the second frame and remain unbeaten in two starts.
Jeff Chan typified Team Philippines’ hot shooting night, burying four of his first six attempts from three-point land as the Filipinos made 12-of-27 tries from there, their 45% clip better than their two-point shooting percentage.
That shooting clip was way better than the 8-of-26 the Filipinos had in winning by just 12 points over Saudi Arabia in the inaugurals.
Chan finished with 17 points and Jason Castro added 16 in a performance that befuddled his point guard counterparts as the Philippines dealt the Jordanians a second straight defeat in Group A action.
Team Philippines again had a cold start, with most of its three-point misses coming in the first quarter, as Jordan built a nine-point lead early before settling for a 20-16 advantage.
Jordan was ahead, 40-33, before Chan and Ranidel De Ocampo hit a triple each that touched off the Filipinos’ second wind.
Gabe Norwood made his biggest contribution on the defensive end, holding down naturalized Jordanian forward Jimmy Baxter to the minimum.
After shooting 30 points in a losing cause against Chinese-Taipei on Thursday, Baxter was starved to less than half of that by Norwood – 14 points – as the former PBA Rookie of the Year with Rain or Shine hardly gave him breathing room.
“We were better tonight than last night, that’s for sure,” Philippine team coach Chot Reyes said. “But this (tournament) is not a sprint. There’s still a long way to go. We played better, but I am still not happy.
Reyes also gave special mention to the crowd, saying it “gave us a lift. They were tremendous.”
Meanwhile, Hamed Haddadi and Iran showed how ready they are to regain the championship in an earlier game, ripping South Korea – defending champion China’s tormentor just two nights back – apart, 76-65.
Haddadi, the 7-foot-2 center who has had a long NBA career because of his talent, scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds despite utmost defensive concentration from a Korean squad that came into the game at a high after a nipping of the Chinese.
And Iran’s performance didn’t stop pundits from ranking the powerhouses.
“China’s a great team ready to defend its title,” Haddadi, the 2007 and 2009 Most Valuable Player, said. “But we also came here to win the championship.”
Iran and China clash Saturday to end their Group C action in the first round of the preliminaries, and Chinese scouts who were very visible trying to scout the Iranians don’t only have Haddadi to contend with in their 5:45 p.m. clash.
Nikka Bahrami, the fleet-footed, sweet-shooting Iranian gunner, tossed in 23 points to complete a two-bladed attack for Iran, which is in the solo lead in its group with its second straight win.
Korea and China are tied at 1-1, though both will also advance with the top three teams from each group making the second round. But a loss for China could be galling in the end.
Chinese-Taipei also remained unscathed in Group A action after hitting its outside shots with impunity in a 90-67 rout of Saudi Arabia.
Lu Cheng-Ju rifled in seven triples and naturalized center Quincy Davis scored 14 points that went with 10 boards as the Taiwanese rose to 2-0 while dealing the Saudis a second straight defeat.
Chinese-Taipei’s game was the complete opposite of what Gilas-Pilipinas played against the Saudis in the inaugurals on Thursday, when the Filipinos couldn’t make their outside shots and settled for a 12-point win against a nation that has football as its national pastime.
Lu finished with 25 points and Creighton Douglas, a half-Taiwanese who plays in the US NCAA, contributed 16 markers.
Chinese-Taipei, which winds up its first round stint against the Filipinos in what could be the most anticipated game as far as the local fans here are concerned, was 17-of-38 from beyond the arc with Douglas shooting four of those.
That game, slated at 8:30 Saturday night, has drawn a lot of attention ever since the Gilas-Pilipinas crew was not given an invitation by Jones Cup organizers in Taipei as an off-shoot to the accidental killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard troops a few months back.
In the first game, mighty China – less than 24 hours after coming off a shock loss to South Korea – pulverized Malaysia, 113-22, in Group C action.
The hulking Chinese, the defending champions, got 21 points from Wang Zhelin and 17 points from the veteran Wang Zhizhi in a game where they held the hapless Malaysians to just two points in the first quarter.
The Malaysians also lost their first outing against powerhouse Iran, 115-25 on Thursday and they have dropped their initial two assignments by a combined 181 points.
Japan also bounced back from an opening day loss to Qatar, getting the goods from point guard Naoto Tsuji and talented center Kosuke Takeuchi in a surprisingly tough 76-59 decision of lightweight Hong Kong.