The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Robert Andaya
GILAS Pilipinas’ historic triumph over host and world No.6 Latvia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia once again proved the tremendous gains of the Filipino athletes in the world stage.
The Filipinos’ dramatic 89-80 victory over Latvia marked the first time that theFilipinos have beaten a European team in 64 years.
The last time the Filipinos did it was during the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome when they pulled the rug from under Spain, 84-82.
Led by naturalized player Justin Brownlee and NBA prospect Kai Sotto, the Tim Cone-mentored Filipinos surprised the highly-favored Latvians with their strong showing on both ends of the floor and silenced the home crowd with a king-sized upset win.
Brownlee led the Filipinos with a near triple-double as he posted 26 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, one steal, and one block in 37 minutes of action, while Sotto, who is still hoping to become the first Filipino to make it to the NBA, added 18 points on a superb 7-of-10 shooting plus eight rebounds.
Three other players — Dwight Ramos, June Mar Fajardo and Chris Newsome — also provided a steady presence for the Filipinos, who controlled the tempo of the game and led by as much as 16 points by the end of the first quarter.
Ramos added 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Fajardo contributed 11 points, five rebounds and three steals and Newsome had 10 points and four rebounds in the historic win.
“I’m totally shocked to be sitting here in front of you after winning this basketball game this is not something we thought,” said Cone, who also made history with Gilas after winning the country’s first basketball gold medal in the 2023 Asian Games after 62 long years.
“I’ll be honest with you we wanted to come in and compete and really put on a good show and we got started early as we hit shots after shots.” added Cone.
Latvia head coach Luca Banchi said the Filipinos’ defense made the big difference.
“Better to talk also about their defensive system, not only offensive system,” said Banchi when asked about the game against the Filipinos.
“I believe that also defensively, their system, their size, and their lineup typology closed the paint very well,” added Banchi, noting the Filipinos forced the Latvians to take 42 shots from three-point range, 13 more than they took in their opening-day 83-55 victory over Georgia.
No less than President Marcos led the Filipinos in cheering for Gilas Pilipinas.
“Congratulations to Gilas Pilipinas for their victory against world number 6, Latvia, at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. 64 years in the making and worth every second! We are all cheering you on from home,” said President Marcos in his social media post.
House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez also had good words for the 11-man men’s basketball team under coach Tim Cone.
“It is with great pride and heartfelt congratulations that I commend Gilas Pilipinas for their historic victory against Latvia in an official FIBA tournament. This triumph, ending a 64-year drought of wins against European teams, is glaring proof to the unwavering spirit, dedication and perseverance of our national basketball team,” sa Speaker Romualdez.
“Hindi lamang ito simpleng panalo sa scoreboard, kundi isang panalo para sa puso ng bawat atletang nangangarap na irepresent ang Pilipinas sa pandaigdigang kompetisyon. Nagsisilbi itong inspirasyon sa maraming Pilipino na magpursige dahil iba ang talento ng mga Pilipino,” added Romualdez.