War and Pissed and looking for the silver lining

Yes, the RP Team lost to the Qataris to finish 4th place in Tehran and whether the team has enough fortitude to believe that they have within them the skills to carry them to better finishes remains to be seen.

Coach Chot believes so but is also wary of taking the next tournament lightly as the host Thais have reportedly made use of the 'naturalization clause' of foreign players. Coach even tells the boys to prepare for war.

Finally, a True Hoop article on the Philippine basketball scene from Slate. Yet, its not something to be happy about and worse, it could be true.

Better recite the rosary, folks. The Olympic dream all seems to hang by a wisp of a prayer.

RP suffers beating from Al-Jalaa of Syria, will battle for third place

Just found out that RP team lost 77-109 to Al Jalaa of Syria (now battling SABA of host Iran for the title) in the semifinals held May 19, 2007. I've tried scouring for details but this is all I could get for the moment.

Notwithstanding the losses, I think the boys learned valuable lessons in Asian international competition that will serve them well for the Olympic qualifiers later in Japan. If all the boys reach peak form and barring any freak injuries, I think we could sneak in just like the day they got past Lebanon in a surprise breakthrough performance.

Congratulations to the players, coaching and training staff. Keep on honing those hoop skills while I go grieve a little more for the Suns and watch an inevitable Spurs run to another NBA title.

18th FIBA Asia Champions Cup

After 2 games, 2 losses.

First game against SABA of host Iran, our boys simply could not get past Goliath. Our boys were out-rebounded (40-27) and had 20 turn-overs.

Bright spot. Field goal percentages were good although we could be better at the free throw line.

Against Astana of Kazakhstan the next game, the boys weren't lucky either losing 66-75. Seigle and Caguioa combined for 39 points to lead the offense although we probably lost, again, from the free throw line, missing 12 (7 of which by Caguioa himself). Wowaweewa.

Since we don't get to watch the games (and we're busy watching the NBA playoffs), we'll just have to settle for game stats found here. 1st game and 2nd game (both pdf files).

I don't think the boys have really shown how good they could be but a win the next game could provide the bounce in the step towards the right direction. Best of luck to them.