When the schedule for the 2017 Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship was released, no one expected the young Myanmar national basketball team to keep up with Gilas Pilipinas. With Burmese basketball just returning to the international scene back in 2015, everyone expected a margin that would reach at least 80 points.
And once tip-off was held, the difference between the level of basketball of the Philippines and that of Myanmar was evidently light years ahead.
For 40 minutes, Gilas dominated Myanmar at all fronts: out-rebounding them (57 to 33), out-hustling them (Gilas had 25 steals that helped to 38 Myanmar turnovers), out-sizing them (Myanmar’s tallest player is just 6-foot-5 and Gilas had 12 blocks), and completely outclassing them.
For coach Chot Reyes, they never considered stopping play because they wanted to honor the game.
“It’s a very fine line. Kung magbaboy naman kami — if we don’t defend them, give them an easy lay-up, and if we don’t take shots or take haphazard shots or make haphazard plays, that’s a bigger sign of disrespect, not only for the opponent but for the game,” the 53-year-old tactician shared after Gilas’ 147-40 beat down of Myanmar.
“We talk a lot about playing the right way. I’m sure for Myanmar there wasn’t an other way.”
Outside of Southeast Asia — where the Philippines is seen as a Goliath in basketball — Gilas is seen as underdogs, receiving numerous routs that have helped the team grow throughout the years.
“We’ve been on the opposite ends of these scores as well,” Reyes, the mentor of Gilas during the 2014 FIBA World Cup, recalled. “When we played Australia and France, they beat us up.
“We’ve been on the other end of the stick so we know how it feels.
“Even when we were a lot smaller or less talented than the other teams, we never expected them to take it easy on us, because it’s basketball,” the five-time Coach of the Year added.
And that is the reason why Reyes and his staff decided to bring in a stacked roster to SEABA. Not to impose their will, but to help in the improvement of Southeast Asian basketball.
