MANILA, 23 August — Obviously, the Philippine team’s ambitious title bid in the Busan Asian Games rests on how its perceived imposing frontline would fare against the tall and mighty Chinese.
As always, the Chinese are the yardstick of what a team to beat is all about - and will set out as the heavy favorites in the quadrennial competition considered as Asia’s Olympics owing to their long title run since the 80s. Can the Philippine team, backstopped by crack Fil-foreign players, hold up with their unpredictable opponents, particularly the Chinese?
That remains to be a hanging question.
But for those who cannot go to Busan, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) are bringing the Asian Games - or at least part of it - to them.
The Nationals will give a glimpse of what to expect from them in Busan when they line up for two major tune-up games to be held on their own humble turf.
Coach Jong Uichico’s boys will take their first assignment when they go up against a young Taipei side, who has an eye towards preparing the professional selection that will represent the country in Busan and giving Filipinos a chance to savor the Asian Games experience, in two warm-up matches this week.
Selecta-RP will be facing an inexperienced but big Taipei side in two different venues as preparations for the war in South Korea steps up yet another notch for Uichico and his crew.
In 1998, as part of the preparation for the Bangkok Asiad, the league invited the Chinese national team to the country for an exhibition match that played to a full house crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
This time, the dark horse Chinese-Taipei team will play two games against Team Philippines, which is composed of Asi Taulava, Erik Menk, Jeffrey Cariaso, Kenneth Duremdes, Olsen Racela, Dennis Espino, Danny Ildefonso, Danny Seigle, Dondon Hontiveros, Noy Castillo, Rudy Hatfield, Andy Seigle, Mick Pennisi, Boyet Fernandez and Chris Jackson.
Interestingly, the Taiwanese team is expected to have a completely new look, as the old and devastating fixture that had been Chen Chi Lung will not see action for their National team for the first time in more than a decade.
Carrying the cudgels would be a horde of new young turks led by 6-foot-5 shooting guards Hsin An Chen, a high-leaping, prospect who was earned the nickname Prince of Dunk in Taiwan, forward Hong Yu Chou, 6-foot-8 forward Lei Tien and three beanpoles. Chih Wei Wu, at 26, is said to be the oldest player in the Taiwanese lineup and could be the most experienced center at 6-feet-8, having been with the National side since 1998.
But information obtained by the PBA Commissioner’s Office talked much of the ability of the younger cagers in the team, especially Chen and Lei.
Chen is a chronic scorer, and a spectacular one at that. Molded in the same way as the American Ninja, this shooting guard averaged 21 points and close to nine rebounds a night for the Yulon Dinos in the Taiwanese professional league and was the Most Valuable Player in the 2001 season.
While Taulava, Menk and Andy Seigle will all be put to the test in the middle, stopping someone like Chen will fall on the shoulders of Uichico’s guards and forwards.
Uichico has an abundance of players playing the Nos. 2 and 3 spots, and these players will be critical in the Busan campaign, most specially at the time before the Philippines takes on China.
Japan, Lebanon and the host Koreans have a host of great forwards, and how the likes of Duremdes, Danny Seigle and Hatfield hold up against this Taiwanese team will be critical in pre-judging the success of the Philippines in Busan.
The match between Chinese-Taipei and Selecta-RP is what Uichico had always wanted, since these are the type of games that will help us prepare for the Asian Games.
“We are going to play a team with vast international exposure and I think that will really benefit our national team in terms of preparation,” Uichico said.
The national mentor is also looking forward to a Philippines-Australia series, which the PBA is cooking up.
The Melbourne Tigers, one of the most dominant teams in the Australian league, have accepted an invitation from the PBA to play a pair of tune-up games with the Nationals.
Melbourne head coach Lindsay Gaze confirmed the Tigers willingness to play two games against the all-pro team tentatively set later this month.
“We re elated with the Melbourne Tigers acceptance of our invitation,” said PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino. “Their stint here will go a long way in our bid to toughen up the Philippine national team for the forthcoming stint in Busan.”
Expectedly, the series against the Tigers will address the Nationals’ need for exposure to the international brand of play, more so since Australia has for so long established itself among the best teams on the world stage.
Australia’s National Basketball League is also regarded as one of the toughest in the globe, regularly churning out players good enough to make it to the NBA.
Melbourne is among the prominent teams in Australian league, having won the championship in 1983 when the team was still known as the CBA and again in 1997 with a team anchored on four-time Olympian Andrew Gaze.
The team reached as far as the semifinals of this year’s NBL campaign.
“We’re pleased to help in your team’s preparation for the Asian Games,” said Lindsay Gaze in a communication sent to the PBA Commissioner’s office.
Although the final line-up of the team Melbourne will send to Manila has yet to be finalized, the Tigers success in the NBL is anchored on reigning league MVP Mark Bradtke and former PBA imports Marcus Timmons and Lanard Copeland.
But the team’s biggest star is the 6-6 Gaze, who starred for Seton Hall in the US NCAA and had a brief stint with the Washington Bullets in 1993 and was part of the San Antonio Spurs that won the NBA championship in 1999.
Gaze, now 37, also won the NBL MVP five times - the last in 2000. He was a member of the Australian national team for 14 years from 1984 to 1998, seeing action in four Summer Games, four world championships and one Goodwill Games.
“We’re looking forward to the stint against the Melbourne Tigers,” said Uichico, visibly elated with the development. “I’m sure we’ll come out of that experience a much-better team.”
Uichico’s crew has just capped a disappointing campaign in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
In 10 games, the Nationals suffered seven defeats as they failed to advance past the elimination round of the mid-season, import-laced tournament.
So they will now be forced to look for other ways to toughen up for the Busan Games where they hope to overcome great odds against the likes of erstwhile titlist China and traditional title contender South Korea.
“Time is a luxury we don t have right now,” said Uichico, who took over the coaching job from his guru, American coach Ron Jacobs, who suffered a stroke last December. “So we just have to do the best we can with the remaining time we have.”
Right now, Uichico has barely a little over a month to transform the Nationals into one fighting machine capable of beating the Chinese, and of course the other formidable teams they would meet along the way before hoping to meet the reigning champions in the finals.
The San Miguel coach-on-leave stressed that the Nationals will have to put in a lot of work developing their chemistry and fine-tuning their plays before the Asiad.
But he admitted chemistry is the team’s biggest problem right now, and he attributed it to the injuries that had hobbled his players.
The latest victim was ace forward Kenneth Duremdes, who has a sprained right ankle.
Since its formation late last year, the Philippine team’s preparations have been hounded by one setback after another - particularly the hamstring injury that is expected to sideline top forward Danny Seigle for at least two weeks.
Uichico now hopes to make up in the next few weeks leading up to the Asiad.
“We cannot afford to be idle should our bid in the quarterfinals fail to materialize. But as of now, we have a fighting chance of making it there,” he said.
The Filipinos are facing an uphill climb in their bid to bring the coveted basketball gold back to the country which they last won in 1962.
It marks the fourth time since the open basketball was introduced in 1990 that the PBA is sending its best talent to the prestigious regional games.
The staging of the quadrennial meet could very well be the biggest acid test for the PBA, which for the past three editions of the games has represented the country and carried the burden of trying to live up to the Filipinos’ expectations of winning the gold.
The PBA has sent the best players, and coaching staff, it could best offer to fulfill its golden mission - to no avail, though. And again, the PBA is pulling no stops in preparing and sending the best possible team to Busan.
So four years since the last Asian Games in 1998, the Philippines will embark on a mission yet again to virtually scale China’s Great Wall with the help of much taller, heftier, quicker and talented Fil-foreign players.
The immediate goal is to improve on a bronze medal finish in 1998. The biggest task, however, is obviously to reclaim the throne from defending champion China.
Before they will have to consider China or South Korea as their most probable opponents for the gold, the Nationals will have to first look closely at the other credible contenders, among them Japan, Lebanon and Kazakhstan.
Although Uichico enjoys the luxury of having marquee Fil-Am players at his disposal, the Nationals will have their hands full and will have to work extra hard to boost their chances of reaching the finals - and dispute the gold with, most likely, China.
The Philippines will be facing China’s basketball version of its Great Wall - the 7-foot-6 Yao Ming, 7-foot-1 Wang Zhizhi and 6-11 Menk Batere.
Earlier, the quirks of draw in Busan went in favor of the Philippines as it found itself bracketed with lightly-regarded opponents.
The Philippines, which finished third behind China and Korea during the last edition of Asiad in 1998 in Bangkok, Thailand, was bracketed with United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India in Group C.
China will lead Group A, Korea Group B and Kazakhstan Group D in the 13-nation basketball event.
But the result of the draw meant that the Philippines might be in for a titanic semifinal showdown with the South Koreans, notorious for hometown decisions. But that would be better than meeting China in the cross-over semis.
Against the UAE and India - two teams which failed to advance past the eliminations in the Asian championships (ABC) - Uichico’s side should encounter just token resistance to booking themselves into the quarterfinals.
The top two teams of each of the four groupings would meet again for the four semifinals slots and a chance to make the medal round.
The Chinese are joined in Group A by Hong Kong and Lebanon, which is regarded as the tournament darkhorse after stretching China to the limit in last year’s Asian championships. In Group B, the host will be up against Japan, Kuwait and Mongolia. Group D is unpredictable with Chinese-Taipei, Qatar and Kazakhstan, which the Philippines beat for the bronze in Bangkok, Thailand, four years ago, going up against each other.
Tournament format will have the eight quarterfinalists divided into two brackets - the first will have the Group A topnotcher, the second placer in Group B, the top team in Group C and the runner-up in Group D, while the other bracket will group the second placer in Group A, the topnotcher in Group B, the runner-up in Group C and the No. 1 team from Group D.
For the record, the Philippines last won against China 16 years ago in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) men’s championship with American Ron Jacobs coaching a team reinforced by naturalized Filipinos Jeff Moore and Dennis Still. The Chinese have won the Asian gold since 1986.
With 6-9 giants like Taulava, Andy Seigle and Pennisi as well as 6-6 Espino, 6-6 Danny Seigle, 6-5 Menk and 6-5 Ildefonso, the Philippine team is the tallest, and perhaps the most talented ever assembled for the Asian Games.
The predominant feeling right now in the country is that Uichico’s team has the best chance of finally bringing home the Asian basketball gold.
Since the PBA was tasked by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) with forming the national team in the last three editions of the Asian Games, it has won one silver and one bronze medal.
A team coached by superstar Robert Jaworski lost to the powerhouse Chinese in the finals of the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, while the squad handled by Norman Black failed to win a medal after finishing fourth in the 1994 games in Hiroshima.
The Centennial Team coached by Tim Cone, after months of rigid training at home and abroad, won the bronze medal in Bangkok in 1998.
The last time the Philippines won the basketball gold in the Asian Games was in 1962 in Jakarta. The country also won the cage championships in the inaugural games in 1951 in New Delhi: in 1956 in Manila; and in 1958 in Tokyo.
For the record, the Philippines last beat China in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championships in Kuala Lumpur in January 1986 with a team coached by Ron Jacobs which included naturalized players Dennis Still, Chip England and Jeff Moore.
It turned out, it was the last major basketball crown by the country in the international arena.
