By Paolo Mariano
(July 4, 2024) – Ask your neighbors if they slept properly earlier. Many of them probably did not. Because you were perhaps shouting your lungs out in the wee hours of the morning, enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. But most probably, your neighbors were doing the same.
On early Thursday, Gilas Pilipinas made an entire nation collectively lose sleep—in a good way—and lose its mind and voice and poise and logic and possibly every convention known to humanity.
The team hacked out an exceptional win, 89-80, over host country Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world (a fact that needs to be emphasized at every chance), in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the capital of Riga.
Due to the time difference, the game aired at 12 a.m. in the Philippines. But for a country that consumes basketball 24/7, 365, it was no big deal. Just stay woke! As local battle rapper Sak Maestro said, the minute hand and the hour hand signify a fistfight, putting two hands on zero hour like a clock strikes at midnight.
And right from the tip at 00:00 of July 4, 2024 in the Philippines, that’s exactly what Tim Cone and his cavalcade of courageous cagers did. They struck Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world, with a fight that no one—even Nostradamus with advanced analytics—could have predicted.
At one point in the third quarter, Gilas Pilipinas even led by 26 points, 74-48. Usually, that only happens against a Southeast Asian opponent. If someone tuned in to the game at that juncture, he or she would think that the scoreboard merely had a glitch. Tama ba ‘yan? Lamang tayo nang bente sais? It proved to be an all-important cushion.
“The guys really did a good job of coming out with great energy to start the basketball game and gave us momentum that we could carry throughout the game,” said Cone. “Latvia played the night before (against Georgia), and maybe them taking us for granted gave us our big start, something they never recovered from.”
Filipinos have been so used to heartbreaks on the international stage, that a close game (a.k.a. not losing by 20 points) against a powerhouse squad is an acceptable result. Maybe even a cause for misplaced pride.
Gilas Pilipinas, which is ranked 37th in the world, has held leads in the past against higher-ranked teams only to squander them in the endgame. So despite controlling the entire match (Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world, never led), there was still cautious optimism for the national crew.
Unofficial betting lines gave Gilas Pilipinas a plus-21 against Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world. What the oddsmakers didn’t take into account was the team’s fortitude. After all, how do you even measure that?
June Mar Fajardo gave free massages to his defenders. Kai Sotto had one of his best outings in a Gilas Pilipinas uniform. Dwight Ramos did Dwight Ramos things. Chris Newsome was awesomely fearless. And Justin Brownlee? Sheesh. Almost a triple-double. A critical four-point play. All-business. All in. All magic.
“It was a great team win. Unbelievable. Latvia came out here and had great support from their fans. It was tough. But I just got to give a lot of credit to the full team and the way we came out and competed,” said Brownlee, who tallied 26 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.
“The world really doesn’t know much about Justin Brownlee, but for me, he’s the Michael Jordan of the Philippines. That’s what we expect him to do and that’s what he does every night. He’s going to go out there with his A-game. He’s a great teammate, he’s a great player, and we’re very blessed to have him,” said Sotto, who chipped in 18 points and eight rebounds, in an interview with FIBA.
When the Michael Jordan of the Philippines hit that huge three-pointer—plus a foul—to stymie the run of Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world, with only 3:29 remaining in the final frame, Japeth Aguilar and Carl Tamayo passionately hugged on the bench like they just escaped a death sentence. But as a little comical as it looked, it also perfectly encapsulated the feeling of every Filipino watching the game. It felt like fate zealously hugged the whole nation.
Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world, shooting 10 of 42 (23.8%) from the three-point line was an aberration. The squad shot 42.1% from long distance in last year’s FIBA World Cup—second-best in the tournament. But of course, it was an anomaly that Gilas Pilipinas would gladly take. When Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world, was clanking from deep early, it seemed like the Law of Averages would catch up in the second half. It didn’t.
The home crowd was stunned, burying their faces in their palms, melting in their seats, and flashing sarcastic smiles. They expected an easy win. What they got instead was a clenching despair.
“The Philippines had an excellent performance from the very beginning, they were very sharp, imposed their physicality, and found good solutions in the offense. That’s a good lesson for us,” said Latvia coach Luca Banchi in the postgame media conference.
Here’s another: Don’t sleep on the Philippines.
It’s easy to get lost after a victory. The residue from any form of success normally lingers. The focus gets cloudy. The mind gets cocky. There’s always the risk of making halting progress only to fall back on familiar frailties. That’s why for Cone, even though the historic win felt like a proclamation of resolve, it’s imperative to remain pragmatic.
“We’re happy about it, we’re proud of it. But it’s just one game. We’re not here to win just one game. We’re here to do what we can to get to the finals and maybe a trip to Paris (Olympics). This was one step for us but it’s just a baby step. We have more steps ahead of us. We’re not going to get too high about this win. We have more to do,” said Cone.
One could argue that it’s the biggest win ever of Gilas Pilipinas—the country’s first victory against a European team since beating Spain in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Conquering Latvia, which is ranked sixth in the world, in Latvia gave it a deeper magnitude. A perfect sequel to Gilas Pilipinas defeating China in China in last year’s Asian Games.
It’s also worth noting that during last year’s FIBA World Cup, the Philippines got embarrassed several times on its home floor. This time, it’s the other way around.
In Latvia, there’s a legend that Riga is a city that’s never ready. Because if it ever is, it will sink.
On early Thursday, truly, it wasn’t ready for Gilas Pilipinas.
(With reports from Nic Earnshaw, Cignal TV)
