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COURAGEOUS GILAS PILIPINAS LOSES HEARTBREAKER ON REFEREE?S INEXPLICABLE CALL By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 31 Aug 2014  Displaying the same courage that our United Nations peacekeepers have shown in battling Syrian rebels and refusing to surrender in the Golan Heights, Gilas Pilipinas gallantly fought off a much bigger and heavily favored Croatian team to suffer a heartbreaking overtime defeat that was decided by an inexplicable flopping call on Jason Castro at the end of the third quarter. Fans watching the ?live? telecast on TV 5 were furious but Reyes, while he expressed his bitterness at the call kept his composure so as not to add to the team?s miseries. Because of the call Krunoslav Simon was given two free throws which he converted before Damir Markota nailed a triple to give Croatia a 57-49 lead going into the final quarter. Reyes told the Manila Standard/Viva Sports he could never understand the call since Simon is 6?5? and Castro a much smaller 5?10? even as Castro said that if anything Simon was guilty of a charging foul or at worst, Reyes said ?Jason should have been tagged with a blocking foul.? Castro, Asia?s top point guard who played despite being slightly hobbled by an Achilles injury tried desperately to send the game into a second extension with 6.1 second remaining in overtime when he went for a game-tying three point shot and was clearly fouled by 6?2? NBA point guard Oliver Lafayette but no foul was called as anguish was etched on Castro?s face. Up by three 81-78, the Croatian coach instructed his players to foul if necessary to prevent the Filipinos from tying the game which is what Lafayette did but to the chagrin of a huge crowd of Filipinos who cheered their hearts out the referees didn?t call a foul even as replays clearly showed that Castro was held and also hit on the arm. Reyes also expressed doubts over the 5th foul called on Gabe Norwood, a key element in the Gilas defensive rotation. The Gilas Pilipinas players were naturally ?crushed? according to Reyes but he believes they will be ?fine? when the Philippines goes up against Greece in a game to be telecast at 2:00 a.m. on Monday over TV 5. Reyes said Greece is not as big as Croatia ?but they are a lot quicker.? Reyes told the Standard the refs ?took it away from us? claiming that being an unknown entity in world basketball for the past 40 years ?they don?t respect us.? He said ?it hurts so much. We deserved better than that.? Reyes said he was ?really proud of this team.? He noted that naturalized player Andray Blatche who at one poit in the first half hobbled off the court after he ?twisted his knee a little bit and it was kind of tender? eventually played some 41 minutes and ?fought for his team.? After 4-all count on baskets by Blatche and LA Tenorio, Croatia went on a 13-0 run before Marc Pingris scored after a Paul Lee assist in the paint before Lee scored on a drive and Castro made 1 of 2 free throws after he was fouled driving to the basket as Croatia ended the first quarter ahead 23-9. Reyes said the players were ?jittery? which was compounded by Blatche who missed six attempts after his first basket and was pulled out early in the 2nd quarter to be replaced by Junmar Fajardo seeing action for the first time. The PBA MVP forced a turnover following a put-back by Pingris who battled the big men without let up and followed up with a basket inside which made it 26-13. With captain Jimmy Alapag orchestrating the offense and the Philippines led by Blatche tightening up defensively with sweet-shooting left Jeff Chan and Blatche, an Alapag steal and a Norwood put back saw the Croatia lead down to 37-24 before Blatche hobbled to the bench after Reyes said ?he twisted his knee a little and its kind of tender.? A mighty triple by Alapag who was fouled in the process and converted the free throw trimmed the lead to 10 at 37-27 with 1:07 remaining in the first half and when Chan buried a triple Gilas Pilapinas went into the dugout at halftime down only by 6, 37-31. Chan opened the third quarter with a triple to bring the Philippines to within 3 at 37-34 but the ref missed a foul call when Chan was hit on the head as he took the shot. A 6-0 Croatia run gave them a 43-34 lead with 6:40 left in the 3rd quarter before Blatche attacked the basket with a vengeance, made the shot and converted the additional free throw on a foul before Pingris battled inside and scored to make it 45-39. A defensive stop by Pingris and a triple by Blatche made it 48-44 with 3:30 to go in the third. A Fajardo rebound and a Castro triple closed the gap to 3 points, 52-49 before the flopping foul on Castro gave Croatia a 57-49 lead going into the final quarter. A nifty side-stepping move netted Ranidel de Ocampo 2 points and another triple by Chan plus a basket by Pingris fueled a Gilas run and when Blatche nailed a three on another pinpoint Alapag pass the Philippines was down by only three points, 64-61. When Chan was fouled while attempting a triple and he converted all three free throws the crowd went wild as for the first time the Filipinos grabbed the lead 67-66 and when Blatche scored inside it was cushioned to 69-66. But Simon quickly retaliated with a three of his own to tie the count at 69-all and after Alapag missed a three, Castro scored on a floater to tie the count again at 71-all with 39 seconds to play. After Chan missed an opportunity to seal the win, the game went into overtime. Norwood fouled out with 41 seconds to play and Bogdanovic who has been signed up by the Brooklyn Nets made both free throws forcing Coach Chot to sue for time with Croatia ahead 77-75. With 19.2 seconds left de Ocampo missed on his attempt but a Blatche triple cut the Croatia lead to 1, 79-78 with 6.1 seconds left in overtime and as Castro drove down the sideline and heaved a three he was clearly fouled as replays showed but the referees completely ignored the appeals for a call, this ending a heroic stand by Gilas Pilipinas. Double grandslam winning coach Tim Cone described the Filipinos performance as ?awesome? and said ?what a message we sent to the world. We showed we belong.? He noted that ?if you take the first quarter away, we dominated the game.? Cone posed the question ?can they get over this one, emotionally.? The scores: Croatia (81) ? Bogdanovic 26, Simon 12, Saric 10, Tomic 8, Markota 5, Ukic 5, Lafayette 4, Rudez 4, Zoric 4, Babic 3. Gilas Pilipinas (78) ? Blatche 28, Chan 17, Pingris 10, Castro 6, De Ocampo 5, Alapag 4, Tenorio 2, Norwood 2, Fajardo 2, Lee 2, Aguilar 0. Quarterscores: 23-9, 37-31, 57-49, 71-71 (reg.), 81-78 (OT). Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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