The basketball victories of the Philippines on the world stage
Believe it or not, we have beaten Team USA quite a few times in international competition, most recently in the 34th William Jones Cup in Taiwan, where after being down by ten points in the fourth quarter, point guard LA Tenorio led a rally that enabled the national quintet (Gilas II) to come away with a 76-75 victory and recapture the championship it last won in 1998.
In 1985, Ron Jacobs’ Northern Consolidated Cement (NCC)—then under the banner of San Miguel Beer also repulsed the American contingent for its first triumph in the annual tournament. In the 2007 edition, San Miguel-Team Pilipinas—under Chot Reyes—trounced the Athletes in Action (AIA)-USA team 72-67. That national squad finished third that year.
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There have been other incidents where the Americans appeared to be vulnerable to the Filipinos in the sport they dominate globally (I’m sure many of you will cite these games anyway), but the bottom line here is that our national teams have achieved a lot on the world stage. I’m quite sure the Philippines has not beaten the USA where it really counts: The Olympics and the FIBA World Basketball Championships (now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup). In fact, the closest margin of victory of the USA over the Philippines (at least from what I’ve dug up) was a 56-43 encounter in the 1954 FIBA World Basketball Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Americans went on to win the title against the hosts while the Philippines defeated Uruguay, 67-63 behind a 31-point explosion from “The Big Difference” himself Caloy Loyzaga to attain the bronze medal—the country’s highest finish in a major global international tournament.
The wins over the USA are among a long list of accomplishments the Philippines has submitted over its century-long affiliation with the sport (yes, we were the first hoop kings of the 1913 Far Eastern Championship Games—the predecessor of the SEA Games). There are many notable basketball countries today that stand proud as among the best on the planet that once-upon-a-time suffered a setback against “the little brown men” from “the orient”. Needless to say, current Asian powers such as Iran, China, South Korea and Lebanon were easy assignments for the Filipinos in yesteryears’ hard-court battles. At present, we have a lot of work to do before we can call ourselves better than the abovementioned nations, but basketball rankings (the Philippines is 45th as of now) and past debacles only fortify our chances to get better against our Asian rivals.
It is the hope of an entire archipelago that the Manila 2013 FIBA Asia Championship rewrites the history books—in favour of the host nation.
Let’s check out some of the contemporary world powers that the Philippines has toppled in the past. It’s quite an entertaining list.
1. Spain (FIBA Rank #2)—present notable players include Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro, Serge Ibaka (naturalized)
Olympics: Silver (1984, 2008, 2012)
FIBA World Basketball Championships: Gold (2006)
August 27, 1960: PHI 64-62 ESP
Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine matching up against the Gasol brothers in the paint and the sniping of Navarro in the perimeter, but during the group stages of the 1960 Rome Olympics, the Spaniards were felled by the Filipinos. Spain’s line-up was bolstered by a very young Francisco “Niño” Buscato who would later go on to become one of the longest serving international cagers in Spanish basketball history. Their coach was Eduardo Kucharski-Gonzalez.
Having lost their opener to Poland, 86-68, The Filipinos—led by team captain Charlie Badion and his patented “Bicycle Shot”—went on to pull the rug from under the Spaniards but after that needed to defeat Uruguay to book a slot in the next round. The team had an able group of warriors with such future legends as Kurt Bachmann, Ed Ocampo, Ciso Bernardo and Roberto Yburan. It was in this match, however, that a turning in Philippine hoops history occurred as Badion suffered a serious knee injury which removed him from the game and although his teammates continued to battle, it was not enough as Uruguay edged the Philippines 80-76, despite 29 points from Bernardo. Badion was never the same after the injury and retired from playing not long after that.
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That also marked the first of only two times Spain and the Philippines tangled. They avenged that bitter setback in the 1974 FIBA World Cup in San Juan, Puerto Rico where the Philippines was placed in “The Group of Death” with Spain, and former champions Argentina and the USA (which eventually took the Bronze). The RP team led by Robert Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez and Bogs Adornado dropped all three assignments and failed to advance.
The following year, the PBA began.
2. Argentina (FIBA Rank #3)—present notable players include Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni and Pablo Prigioni
Olympics: Gold (2004), Bronze (2008)
FIBA World Basketball Championships: Gold (1950), Silver (2002)
August 11, 1948: PHI 45-43 ARG
Since history hardly remembers this team coached by Dionisio Calvo, arguably one of the most brilliant minds in Philippine basketball, let’s bring them in:
3 Felicisimo Fajardo (Captain)
4 Andres de la Cruz
5 Ramon Campos, Jr.
6 Edgardo Fulgencio
7 Lauro Mumar
8 Primitivo Martinez (the only remaining player from the 1936 Olympic team)
9 Francisco Vestil
10 Eduardo Decena
11 Gabriel Fajardo
12 Manuel Araneta, Jr.
After finishing the group stages in a five-way tie for first with a similar 3-2 record with South Korea, Chile, Belgium and China, the tie-breaker applied was to advance the top two teams that had the best Points For/Points Against (PF/PA) Ratio. Despite trouncing Iraq 102-30 (which was quite an achievement considering the shot clock had not yet been invented), the Philippines was ranked fifth in Group B and was, therefore, relegated to the Classification rounds. The Argentines were the first to face the “Islanders”—the nickname given to the RP contingent. In what was deemed to be one of the most tightly contested matches of the games, the Philippines nipped Argentina 45-43. Lauro “Bay” Mumar, dubbed “The Fox” by the media, led the RP attack and the squad went on to finish 12th out of 23 nations.
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Today (and if we advance to the FIBA Basketball World Cup), if we can hold Argentina to 43 points, that will surely guarantee a victory. But by all indications, Ginobili and Scola will combine for 43 points—in the first half—against us. Or maybe not…
On an interesting footnote, Argentina—with many members of its Olympic squad retained—went on to capture the inaugural 1950 FIBA World Basketball Championships in Buenos Aires—homecourt. It is refreshing to note that our Islanders beat a future world champion, two years before the fact. Perhaps the Argentines learned a lot from the loss to the Philippines, made the necessary adjustments and it was enough for them to become the best in the world at the time.
The golfing world’s legendary Bobby Jones once said: “I’ve never learned anything from any match that I’ve won…”
3. France (FIBA Rank #8)—notable players include Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Joakim Noah, Boris Diaw and Kevin Seraphin
Olympics: Silver (1948, 2000)
FIBA World Basketball Championships: 4th (1954)
November 3, 1954: PHI 66-60 FRA
November 28, 1956: PHI 65-58 FRA
Watching the movie version of the musical Les Miserables gives one a feel of how the nation of France was during those times and how disjointed the country must have been. Well, no “barricade” could have spared the French from the Filipino onslaught in the 1954 FIBA World Basketball Championship in Rio de Janeiro and just a couple of years later the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. For French Head Coach Robert Busnel, it must have been mind-boggling how an unknown squad from the orient could deal his proud nationals two successive setbacks.
In Rio, the competition format had twelve participating countries bracketed into groups of three with the top two advancing to the Final Round. Eight nations would move on. After that, the format followed how the William Jones Cup is conducted: the top three teams get medals with the number one nation getting the gold medal, the second ranked team taking silver and the third placer winning the bronze in a single-round phase.
When the Philippines found itself in the same bracket as host nation Brazil, things immediately looked bleak for the squad of RP Head Coach Herminio Silva. Fortunately for the Philippines, it won its initial encounter against Paraguay, 64-52, behind fifteen markers from Caloy Loyzaga. After being trounced by the Brazilians 99-62 the following day, the Filipinos just needed Paraguay to lose again to the host nation to advance to the next phase. Brazil prevailed, and now the RP contingent would square off against seven other squads that advanced.
After losing to the United States in their first encounter, the Philippines swept its next five games and had to defeat France to assure itself of at least a bronze medal. The Filipinos held France’s leading scorer Jean-Paul Beugnot to single figures en route to a 66-60 win, with Loyzaga pouring in 19 points to lead the RP charge. However, the following day, Brazil defeated Uruguay to insure a showdown for the gold medal against the USA; a game which saw the Americans eventually triumph, 62-41.Loyzaga emerged as the tournament’s third-leading scorer and was included in the Mythical selection.
At the 1956 Olympiad in Australia, the Philippines found itself in the same group with the French and two South American countries in Uruguay and Chile. After absorbing a tough overtime loss in their opening match against the Uruguayans—the quintet scored only two points in the extra session—the Filipinos needed a victory over practically the same team they dispatched two years prior. This time around, though, the French were ready. The Philippines held a slim four point lead at the half and somehow the French found a way to neutralize Loyzaga in the second half and managed to force the tired Filipinos into their second successive overtime game. The score at the end of regulation was tied at 55-all. New RP Head Coach Leo Prieto—who would eventually become the first commissioner of the PBA—steered the troops to a 10-3 extra period score and once again France fell at the hands of the Filipinos, 65-58.
The Chileans eliminated the RP squad in the next game, however, and the team could only salvage a 7th place finish in the consolation round. It would Loyzaga’s last Olympic participation as a player. He would later go on to coach the 1968 RP team in the Mexico City Olympiad, but that collection of basketball talent crashed out in 13th place.
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With the 27th FIBA Asia Championship still a long ways off, it’s cool to reflect on the world powers the Philippines has conquered in the not so distant past and look forward to the possibility that these feats—although presently highly improbable—can one day be attainable again. The baby steps are in the works and we all have to rebuild somewhere.
First: Asia, then the world.
(Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter: @NoelZarate)
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
