The FIBA Tianjin Aftermath: PBA at Crossroads

Iran continued to make big waves in the FIBA Asia Men’s Championship while the Philippines has to settle for a few ripples.

An unknown force until their emergence in Tokushima, Japan two years ago, the Iranians will again be singing their way to a global stage.

After the Beijing Olympics last year, it’s Istanbul in 2010 for the 16th FIBA World Championship.

And how did it all begin for the back-to-back champions, and what could be in store for Philippine basketball, here’s a look back and a glimpse forward.

From the rugged mountains of Iran and Lebanon to the sun-baked deserts of Jordan, the writing is on the wall – Asian basketball supremacy has shifted to the Middle East.

Heads and shoulders above everybody in size and agility, Middle Eastern teams have opened a chasm between them and the rest of the region, including erstwhile powerhouse China.

The widening gap eventually swallowed the field in the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship, with the defending champion Iranians annihilating the host Chinese, 70-52, in the final game Sunday at the Tianjin gymnasium.

Before a boisterous hometown crowd who believed their heroes were invincible, China crumbled as Iran, whose FIBA Asia Olympic qualifying victory in Tokushima came into question because the Chinese didn’t bother to field it’s A-Team as host of the Beijing Summer Games the following year, thumped their chests after exposing Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue and Wang Zhizhi as mere mortals in the face of the emerging forces in the continent.

So distraught were the Lebanese after losing to China in the semifinal Saturday, 72-68, that they offered the Jordanians only a shell of their original form, the one which had the Chinese on the ropes until a referee stepped in and decided the outcome in the closing seconds.

The Iranians witnessed the atrocity committed against Lebanon and learned their lesson, never allowing anybody to alter their destiny by roaring ahead early and keeping the pressure mounted throughout the championship.

Other Asian teams, including long-time traditional powers South Korea, Japan and the Philippines, found themselves left out in the cold, shivering against the whipping winds sweeping the Asian basketball landscape.

Powerade-Team Pilipinas, comprised of professional players from the Philippine Basketball Association, wasn’t fast enough to run for cover when the winds of change came howling. The 2009 Nationals received a blessing during the draw and with the modified tournament format which called for three teams, instead of two, to move on from each group.

Unbeaten South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan advance from Group A to the next phase of the elimination, facing off with Group B’s Iran, Chinese-Taipei and Kuwait, an encounter that ended the campaigns of Japan and Kuwait and sent the top four teams to the crossover quarterfinals.

Over in the other two groups, China, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar were decisively grinding out the opposition in clinching quarterfinal seats.

It was China vs. Chinese-Taipei, Jordan vs. RP, Lebanon vs. South Korea, and Qatar vs. Iran for spots in the Final Four.

Emerging after the smoke of battle settled down were China, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar.

Falling behind by as many as 15 points while missing 18 free throws, the Nationals came back to as close as five points before surrendering an 81-70 defeat to the Jordanians, who massacred them by 31 points in the William Jones Cup tournament in Taipei last month.

The Philippines thus bid goodbye to a dream appearance in the World Championship after more than two decades, a goal many thought was too lofty to aim for in the first place with the Nationals’ little training at home and even more sparse exposure outside.

Their unfamiliarity with international rules and the physical brand of play also came to fore when they blew a chance to reach Istanbul via another route – the wildcard pool in December where the fourth- and fifth-placed teams in Tianjin could get an invite to a single round clash to pick four more qualifiers – when they lost to a tall and fast Qatari team, 83-65, in the match for fifth.

Then came the rematch with South Korea, which has beaten the Philippines in the Jones Cup and again as group-mates in the preliminary round.

At stake is redemption against a team that had left a dagger imbedded in the hearts of Filipinos after Lee Sang-Min hit that buzzer-beating three-point shot in the semifinal game of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.

The Nationals had a 10-point lead going in the fourth quarter but squandered it all with cold shooting and turnovers, missing three straight attempts in the closing seconds and winding up reliving the nightmare of seven years past when guard Yang Dong-Geun scored on an improbable fastbreak layup with practically the entire RP team draped all over him as South Korea ran away with an 82-80 victory and seventh place.

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Iran, in sweeping nine games en route to the championship, had 7-foot-3 center Hamed Ehadadi, true. But it also has an array of lights-out shooters who never flinched when the going got tough.

With only the certified gunners allowed to shoot from 20.5 feet out – the three-point line -- in the PBA, except for one or two teams, the RP team’s big men flailed around in unfamiliar territory in trying to keep pace with opponents as big, if not bigger, who were draining triples like they were free throws.

Oh, and then there’s the matter of shooting foul shots.

Atrocious at worst and average at best, the Nationals simply were not a free throw shooting team, either from lack of individual practice or a collective dilemma brought about by the limited attention their mother teams pay this most basic of fundamentals.

Finally, there’s the motivation and the commitment.

A call has been made by national coach Yeng Guiao for the PBA to keep an open mind with its initial decision to implement an exit plan after the Tianjin tournament, allowing the newly-formed Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to take over the mantle of forming RP teams for future international tournaments.

PBA commissioner Renauld ‘Sonny’ Barrios has pledged to bring the matter for discussion with the board of governors, and Sta. Lucia Realty representative Buddy Encarnado has strongly endorsed Guiao’s gambit.

But is anybody asking the players, multi-million peso minor deities, who among them are dedicated to sacrifice time, money and effort for flag and country?

Has a quiet referendum been set to determine who among them are willing to put national interest ahead of personal gain?

And will a committee be formed to study game tapes from as far back as Busan to Tokushima and now Tianjin to find out who among the players made the grade and who fell by the wayside, committing less of themselves as the tournaments got longer and the losses piled up?

If the PBA can find 15 players willing to undergo extensive training, stay together for a prolonged period of time to bond and create chemistry among them, and be proud enough to wear the Philippine flag on their jerseys, then it could go right ahead with the SBP in exploring the possible fruits of a renewed partnership.

If not, then the PBA should take a deep bow, having served the country from 1990 during the Beijing Asian Games where it won a silver – the highest finish by a PBA-backed, no-Fil-foreign player in an international competition, and let the SBP run the show.

But in the event the pro league does find 15 from its backyard who are willing, then the SBP might want to help its cause by sending along a seven-foot naturalized player to spice things up for the RP team in-wating.

Otherwise, without that man in the middle, all this is idle talk, all dreams just wistful and wishful thinking, and all effort and support – as Coca-Cola’s JB Baylon continues to commit – destined to go down the drain.