HoopWatch

Kudos to Team Philippines for winning big against a much taller (way taller in fact) Iran National Team, 89-79. They did trail at halftime by five, but by the start of the third quarter, they kept on running and grabbed those highly important defensive rebounds. “Whoever controls the rebounds, controls the game,” as the old basketball adage goes. And the Filipinos were in control much of the second half, leading by as much as 16 in the final canto.

I love our guards. Mark Caguioa, Jimmy Alapag, Jayjay Helterbrand, Dondon Hontiveros and James Yap are all undersized, but they used their speed and quickness to their advantage. Have you seen those cross-overs. Our players especially Mark and Jayjay literally created space between them and their defenders, it was like the Red Sea has parted anew.

And our forwards had most of the highlights in this tournament. All the fans in that stadium were up on their feet when they saw Kelly Williams plunged that follow-up dunk on the Iranians. They were all stunned. It was replayed eight times by my last count. Gabe Norwood and Williams have had their share of in-your-face slams.

And I believe in Asi Taulava. He is not doing any damage in scoring, but his hustle plays, rebounding and defense. He is matching up against the tallest Asian centers, 7-3 Ha Seung Jin of Korea, that 7-2 Iranian center, seven-footers from Jordan and those huge American cagers. He stood his ground and Asi limited their production at will. Too bad he is just 6-9. If only the Philippines has a seven-footer or just a 6-11 guy who plays like Taulava, we may contend China as the best in Asian basketball. (Sigh…)

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