OVERKILL?
Not really, not when the goal was not just win the Southeast Asia Basketball Association Championship but win so convincingly that there is no doubt as to who are the kings of the sport in the region.
The Philippine team did just that. Winning its first game by 103 points; scoring over 100 points in every game but their last; and decimating the opposition so badly that the betting line during their games was never who wins but by how big a margin the Philippines will rout the other team.
Historically, the Philippines sent just amateur players to compete in the Seaba as well as the SEA Games. But in the face of the ever improving play of our Southeast Asia neighbors the country’s ruling body of the sport decided to send the strongest possible team to the competition.
Leading the squad was three-time Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and the man they call The Beast Calvin Abueva. They were joined by the country’s best basketball players in Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo, Japeth Aguilar, Allein Maliksi, Raymond Almazan and Troy Rosario.
Completing the cast were Gilas Cadets Jio Jalalon, Roger Pogoy and Matthew Wright. The team, already strong enough to manhandle every team in the Seaba, was made even stronger with the addition of naturalized player Andray Blatche.
In the lopsided championship game Gilas Pilipinas trounced Indonesia 97-64 to complete a sweep of the tournament and seal a berth in World Cup qualifiers.
Indonesia was supposed to pose a challenge to the national team. Well, if trailing 2-5 at the start of the game and never trailing again; and then winning by 33 points could be considered a challenge then Gilas did get challenged at least once this tournament.
Blatche led Gilas with 21 points, on four triples and 10 rebounds despite playing just 20 minutes.
Castro, considered the best point guard in Asia, orchestrated the Gilas offense and added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Fajardo had 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks.
Abueva was a hyper kinetic bundle of energy as he pressured and harassed the Indonesia offense and collared eight rebounds to go with five points, one steal and one block.
Fajardo and Blatche relied on their size and length to score at will inside the paint. When the Indonesians shifted to a zone, outside shooters Wright, Romeo, Jalalon, Castro and even Blatche sniped from afar to complete the rout.
