Everything Mardi Gras related clashes like crazy! It’s all good. I mean, you can’t complain about the colors in this case. The colors are Mardi Gras.

Based on the two-tone template used for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game held in New Orleans — some of the hometown accents include: the wild purple-green-gold scheme; the word-mark "NOLA" abbreviation across the front; funky ornamental side patterns based on NO's rich heritage of wrought iron architecture; and the Fleur-de-Bee and trumpet logos on the back.

But the best part of the uniform has to be the inclusion of the famous Mardi Gras beads which make up that polka dot-looking trim.

Abbreviations on uniforms often feel like gimmicks, but the "NOLA" abbreviation totally works. For starters, it spells a word that you can actually say out loud plus it's a term that that's part of the local culture, not a manufactured slang flavor of the month.

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.

***

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.

Powerade Team Pilipinas finished its Fiba Asia Championship campaign with a 4-5 record and good for eighth place in the 16-team field; an improvement from the country’s ninth-place finish in 2007 but nevertheless short of the ultimate goal of a top-three placing and automatic entry into the World Championships next year.

However, as easy it is to label Team Pilipinas’ bid a "failure," this space would rather view it in the contrary. It may be akin to looking at things as half-full than half-empty but still with the many lessons that could be learned from the nationals’ Fiba-Asia campaign, and in turn be used for future forays internationally, it is safe to say that it is not entirely futile.

Primordial of the things to derive from RP’s recent Fiba-Asia stop is that Philippine basketball is still alive in the continental, if not global, scheme of things.

As opposed to the pervading view that RP hoops is no longer relevant in Asia, our boys proved otherwise. We are the kings of Southeast Asian basketball and pitted against the top dogs in the region we held our own. We beat teams like Japan, Chinese Taipei and Kuwait, squads that were deemed to have improved immensely vis-a-vis the Philippines, while at the same time making a good account of ourselves even in defeat versus powerhouses Iran, Jordan and Korea. Save for the game against Qatar where we played listlessly, the Philippines by and large showed to the world that it is still a force to deal with in Asian basketball.

Another thing is the importance of preparation. Of all the teams that competed in the Fiba-Asia, Team Pilipinas could well have been the most "ill-prepared," with gestation abbreviated for various reasons. Despite this, we were still in the thick of competition, running roughshod with the best of them. Had we had more time to fine-tune our stuff, e.g. outside shooting, defense and free-throw shooting, among others, who knows where we could have ended up.

Asian, or for that matter international, competition is all about having the young guys around. While it was a gem seeing guys like Asi Taulava and Mick Pennisi who are in their mid-30s strutting their wares and mattering, it was hard to ignore the emphasis on youth in the entire field. If we are to make far greater wave in the future, we need to keep in step with the competition as far as infusing young legs in our team. Doing so, we afford ourselves the ability to be at par with our rivals not only during game-time situations but more importantly as far as sustaining team growth and development.

Then there is the need to explore alternative ways to improve our competitiveness. Foremost is the naturalization of players to help our cause. We just have to look at teams like Jordan and Lebanon who have naturalized players to much fruitful results. With lack of height a big bane for us, we can certainly use a couple of seven-footers who can add ceiling to our team. The prospects for such look promising especially when played in tandem with our athletic forwards and guards. We already tried the option in the ’80s and turned out to be a success. Why not use it now?

While an eighth-place finish was far from the hoped-for placing for the Philippines, still it was not that bad as it appeared to be. The nationals represented well and in the process earned the respect of rivals and observers alike, and their play churning out valuable lessons that future RP teams can definitely learn from. Mabuhay Team Pilipinas! Thanks for making as proud.

BusinessWorld

THE brave but ultimately failed charge of the Powerade Team Pilipinas in the Fiba-Asia in Tianjin, China, actually confirmed what we've known all along. The Philippines cannot rely on raw talent if it hopes to again excel in the Asian stage in basketball.

The Philippines placed eighth after losing to Korea in its final game yesterday, not much of an improvement from its ninth-place finish in the Fiba Asia championship in Tokushima, Japan, two years ago.

Under the agreement with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the Philippine Basketball Association now officially relinquishes the reins of representing the country to the Smart-Gilas RP team, which shall henceforth represent the country in future international competitions.

But hold it. National team coach Yeng Guiao has a better idea.

Yeng believes that the PBA should continue representing the country in international competitions. As far as Yeng is concerned, Team Pilipinas now is a much-improved team from what it was two years ago and that disbanding the team and letting Smart Gilas represent the country from now on will mean throwing away all the gains already made.

Yeng believes that the PBA should keep the Team Pilipinas intact and then send it to future international competitions. His position is that if the best RP players could barely hold their own against the Asian powerhouses, then what chances do the youngsters of Smart-Gilas have?

Additionally, Guiao believes, and I have to agree with him on this, that the PBA players will ultimately benefit from sending its best player regularly in international competitions.

Smart Gilas is a laudable effort, but the main problem with this program is continuity.

Even if assuming Smart will be willing to sponsor and carry the national colors indefinitely, what about the players? You can train a group of players for optimum performance, but then after they reach their peak what happens next?

That is the problem with the NCC RP team model. We just saw its success. We never saw what would have followed after that when its best players (Jeff Moore, Chip Engeland, Dennis Still, Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim) got older.

Would the NCC RP team have been able to sustain that level of competitiveness after its players got older, or would we have been back to square one needing to start another cycle starting at the bottom for another 10 years before the next batch of national players are trained and ready for international competition?

The Guiao model will eliminate any transition phase because that national team will always have the best RP players at its disposal.

I like where Yeng is going with this. But being that SBP is controlled by the Smart people and not necessarily the PBA, I hope an agreement will be reached on how the PBA can continue to send teams to represent the country in international competitions.

Reuel Vidal
Manila Standard Today

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Basketball, as it is played in the PBA, calls for one-on-one forays or basic pick-and-roll two man games that focus on the league’s superstars.

International competition shuns isolation plays–the cornerstone of playground basketball–and emphasizes head-on defense, quick ball rotation, multiple layers of screens and player movement, and long-distance bombing.

Iran, in sweeping nine games en route to the championship, had 7-foot-3 center Hamed Ehadadi, a player for the Memphis Grizzlies. 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 17 feet out 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.

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.

But has anybody asked the players, multi-million peso minor deities, who among them is dedicated.

Malaya

IT would take the Philippines years to find the next Triggerman, but Powerade-Team Pilipinas team manager urged that shooters from all levels of basketball must be bred like mosquitoes.

"We need little Caidics," Baylon said, referring to young players in the mold of Allan Caidic, the best pure shooter ever to represent the Philippine team in international basketball competitions. "We need to breed these shooters like mosquitoes."

Baylon, also the board governor of Coca-Cola in the Philippine Basketball Association, said that 3-point and free-throw shooting made a big difference in Powerade-Team Pilipinas' losing game against Korea.

The Philippines shot a horrible 14.8 percent from beyond-the-arc (4-of-27) in a 56-69 setback to the Koreans. Worse, the Filipinos barely made the 50-percent mark from the free-throw line.

In the Pinoys' game against the defending champion Iranians, coach Yeng Guiao's troop went to the line twice and made only two-of-four shots for a 50-percent clip, while shooting 37.2 percent from the 3-point territory.

Such numbers won't give the Philippines a chance to beat heavyweight squads from the region.

"If we could do better by 50 percent from the 3-point region, we have a better chance of winning," said Baylon. "But I am really jealous at the free-throw shooting of other teams."

For professional players, missing a free throw is a cardinal sin, especially when playing in international basketball tournament.

"We should challenge our professional players to have a respectable free-throw average. Kaya nga gift shots yun eh, ibig sabihin bigay na," said Baylon. "Once I return to the Philippines, I intend to come down hard on any Coca-Cola Tiger, who shoots woefully from the line."

Caidic and fellow PBA great and four-time Most Valuable Player Alvin Patrimonio are two of the best foul shooters in the pro league. They said free-throw shooting should be given extra time in practice.

"Dati, kapag endgame na and lamang kami, agawan na kami agad kung sino kukuha ng bola," said Caidic. "We knew that they [opposing team] would foul the guy with the ball immediately."

For Patrimonio, free-throw shooting is a combination of physical and mental aspects.

?Minsan, sa paghawak ng bola, posture and release, alam mo na agad kung tama ?yung ginagawa ng free-throw shooter,? said Patrimonio. ?But I think the mental aspect should also be considered. You should believe that you can make those free throws, any game, any time.?

TICKETS for the Nov. 14 bout between Manny Pacquiao and World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto won’t be on sale until Monday next week but the buzz is beginning to heat up Las Vegas and rooms at the MGM Grand are already becoming scarce.

A report by T.K. Stewart of boxingscene.com said ringside tickets for the match, considered the biggest this year, will sell at $1,000 each, with the farthest seats selling for $150.

Demand for tickets is expected to shoot up next week, with Stewart reporting that ringside tickets, this early, are already selling for an astounding 22 times their face value at $22,536.

Even in an economy that is reeling and on the ropes, the few available tickets for the general public are expected to be scooped up within hours of going on sale.

With more than months left before the bout, most of the over 5,000 rooms at the MGM Grand have already been booked for the weekend of Nov. 14th, according to Stewart. Only the high-end rooms at the MGM are still available for the weekend of the fight.

A travel agent booking rooms at the hotel, unaware of the coming fight, told Stewart: "There’s must be something big going on for this happen. The only thing I have open are the signature rooms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen three months in advance. Usually, and especially lately, I can get rooms at the MGM quite easily, they have five thousand of them, so I’m a little shocked to see that to be honest with you."

Told that a big boxing match was taking place on that weekend, the agent nodded and raised her eyebrows.

"Well, that’s still interesting because I’ve handled travel arrangements for people going to Vegas for New Years’ Eve as well as UFC events and I don’t think I’ve never known the MGM to be that full that far in advance."

Expect a bunch of legislators from the Philippiness pour down the ringside seats with their entourage.

ROBERT Jaworski, the Living Legend of Philippine basketball, paid tribute to Powerade-Team Pilipinas for its fighting heart, as shown in their games against Chinese Taipei and defending champion Iran in the Fiba Asia Men’s Basketball Championships in Tianjin, China.

“What’s most essential is not your size, but your heart,” said Jaworski, who added he was overjoyed that at long last, the team’s outside shooting clicked courtesy of James Yap, Willie Miller, Pennisi, JayJay Helterbrand and in the Iran game, the surprising Jared Dillinger and even Gabe Norwood.

Jaworski said it was all right to lose, for “as long as you play your heart out, because that’s what the public loves.”

At the same time, the former former Ginebra playing-coach agreed with national coach Yeng Guiao that the team doesn't know how to earn fouls, even as he noted that disparity in free throws against Iran was a revelation.

Ronnie Nathanielsz
Manila Standard Today