Putting the Smart Gilas victory over Jordan in context

Posted by Jaemark Tordecilla on July 2, 2010 at 03:07 | Comments (4)

I mentioned earlier that I had been planning to write about the Smart Gilas victory in the recently-concluded pocket tournament over Jordan. However, like everything else, including her brother’s inauguration, it had to take a backseat to an issue concerning Kris Aquino. I apologize for that.

Anyway, here are the things we learned from the invitational, apart from the fact that Mac Cardona punches like a chick:

Mac Baracael was the hero of the final game against Jordan, and at this point, I think we could safely say that he’s they key to Smart Gilas’ upsets. This was also the case during the team’s successful campaign last January in Dubai, when Baracael caught fire and led the team to several upsets. When he’s shooting well, he opens up the Gilas offense, which is predicated on spacing and ball movement, making the team very hard to defend.

That said, I can imagine why Toroman is still looking forward to having Kelly Williams on the team; in the first Jordan game, the visitors repeatedly took advantage of Baracael in the post and off the boards, and Toroman was forced to take him out and go with an awkward twin tower combination of Marcus Douthit and Greg Slaughter. It’s feast or famine with Baracael, and we’ve been fortunate that so far, it’s been more feast.

Marcio Lassiter is pretty good, reminds me of Jeffrey Cariaso.

Dongguan coach Brian Goorijan gave high marks for the Gilas offense, but I think two things that really make the Gilas so effective on the offensive end doesn’t necessarily have to do with putting the ball in the basket: they never turn the ball over, and they always have floor balance. International teams like Jordan and Iran make a lot of hay off the break, but the Gilas offense is geared to prevent just that. This is also the reason the Powerade team looked so bad against these international teams in the Jones Cup; poorly-prepared teams tend to turn over the ball a lot, which leads to a lot of easy baskets on the other end.

That’s almost never the case for Smart Gilas, or at least, its man-to-man offense. Their zone offense, however, could use a little more fine-tuning.

Elsewhere on the Internet, people have been bagging on Gilas about their defense. I tend to disagree; I think they have a great defensive system in place, one that even Talk N Text has adopted too. They do a great job of cutting the court in half, preventing all-important swing passes from the strong side to the weak side, and clogging the middle effectively.

They could still do a better job of cleaning up the defensive glass, and it would help if they forced a few more turnovers. But I’m not sure they can do that with the personnel they have on the team currently. They just don’t have the size or the length to do both at a high level.

Sure, they only played against a Dongguan team that was still trying to find its way, but the Talk N Text Tropang Texters looked like the best team in the tourney; their offense was very crisp, and they were much more active and effective on defense.

It makes me wonder: Are we underrating our PBA teams? Even Ginebra, which has been mediocre in the ongoing PBA Fiesta Conference, was able to stay toe-to-toe with Jordan, despite the fact that they looked like they were treating the game like a half-assed scrimmage. I’m not talking about star-studded PBA-organized national teams, but PBA teams per se. Are they better than we give them credit for?

It also makes me curious about just how effective some guys who probably wouldn’t have a chance to get picked for Asian-level competitions would do. Will LA Tenorio be able to get in the lane and loft floaters against Asian teams? Will Marc Pingris’ madman act work against bigger and heftier opponents? Can Sol Mercado barrel his way to the ring? Will opposing point guards in Asia panic when Paul Artadi harasses them in the backcourt?

The kneejerk answer is no… but unless we see it on the court, we’ll never know, wouldn’t we?

Then again, JC Intal probably wouldn’t be able to get to the lane so easily if Jordan’s injured big men made the Manila trip. Rasheim Wright is reportedly also still recovering from a knee injury. The Gilas victory over Jordan is impressive, but I hope no one’s getting over-confident over the result.

Also, the refereeing was clearly slanted in favor of the local teams; the foreign teams probably didn’t mind so much, because these things are par for the course for these types of tournaments. But for a country that always rails against bad officiating, man, we sure can eat up loads upon loads of lutong macao if it benefits our team.

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Tags: Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, Basketball, Kelly Williams, LA Tenorio, Mac Cardona, Marc Pingris, Philippine Basketball Association, Smart Gilas Pilipinas National Basketball Team, Sol Mercado, Talk N Text Tropang Texters, Video

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Friday bullets, starring Charles Tiu, Ray Parks, and of course, more Kris and James
Nice, rainy Friday, with a couple of huge PBA games tonight: Rain or Shine versus Ginebra for an outright quarterfinals spot, and Derby Ace versus San Miguel for an automatic semifinals berth. Just how important is that semis spot, particularly for Derby

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Comments

#1 deerman on 2010-07-02 06:20 (Reply)

hey jaemark!

I agree that seeing is believing but I do believe that some of our PBA teams can match-up against the other Asian teams.

Seeing the PBA teams like the Alaska Aces, San Miguel Beermen, Talk N Text Tropang Texters, BMEG Derby Ace Llamados, and the Barangay Ginebra Kings really impresses me with their chemistry and plays.

These teams are more glued and bonded than the Powerade National Team and seeing them compete with their full strength really shows their high level of play.

*Really makes me wonder if we sent a PBA Champion team before, and have a 7'0 import with it, will things still be the same?

-Deerman

#1.1 The Legendary Skyflakes25 on 2010-07-02 08:06 (Reply)

maybe. but we would have never known it if a 7-footer center naturalized would be very effective and helpful. but that was a good point.

but i really love to see pingris showing his terror acts in the lane. lol

#2 Sinigang Tampines on 2010-07-02 10:09 (Reply)

with that punch, Cardona joins Tiu and Arboleda as Filipino players featured on deadspin.

#3 Ainj on 2010-07-02 10:42 (Reply)

I've always felt that if we sent a PBA team's core to FIBA, with a few pieces here and there and had them train for at least a year, we'd do just fine.

Think Tim Cone and the Alaska Aces, with a booster shot of Greg Slaughter, Kelly Williams, Ryan Reyes, James Yap/Dondon Hontiveros and a 6"11/ 7"0 import.

LA Tenorio doesn't have the foot speed to dominate in the FIBA- the reason why Abarrientos, and now, Andy Barroca are so good at the Asian level.