A night of basketball diplomacy

While the Philippines and China may not agree on certain matters, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), headed by Chairman Richie Garcia, was able to come to terms with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), for the Sharks, led by part-owner and former NBA star center Yao Ming, to come visit our country. Aside from conducting a basketball clinic, the Sharks played the Gilas Pilipinas National Team Monday night at the MOA Arena, and will play a team of PBA players tonight (07 May) at the Araneta Coliseum.

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I had the privilege of anchoring the TV coverage of the Gilas Pilipinas-Sharks game, with Dominic Uy as analyst and Sel Guevara at courtside. I arrived early at the venue hoping to get a chance to meet Yao Ming, who is here as team owner and not as a player. Yao arrived quite early, but quickly retreated into the Sharks’ locker room, only emerging again just before the start of the game. He has noticeably gained weight since last season in the NBA and is an even more imposing figure now. Tight guarding from assigned security, however, prevented almost anyone from approaching him.

We on the TV coverage were hoping that Yao would grant Sel’s request for an interview and/or accept our invitation to sit for a few minutes with the panel in order to call the game. He declined both.

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PSC and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials were in the crowd, as were Vice-President Jojo Binay, and representatives from the Embassy of China. Anthony Suntay was the Master of Ceremonies and he succeeded in bringing the reluctant Yao on to the court to join DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario and Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing, for the ceremonial jump ball. The game would be played under FIBA rules, with four ten-minute quarters.

The Sharks did not perform too well in the past CBA season, but are famous for having Yao as their former player (1997-2002). Yao led them to the CBA championship in 2002 before he moved on to the NBA. In 2009, the Sharks experienced financial difficulties and almost failed to participate in the then upcoming CBA season. Yao stepped in and provided financial help, buying a stake of team ownership and keeping the franchise alive. Two Shark players are on the Chinese National Team, namely 6’3 guard Liu Wei and 7’3 center Zhang Zhaoxu. The average height of the players is about 6’6, with only one player below 6’3. Wang Qun is the Head Coach.

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Gilas Pilipinas, on the other hand, did not utilize the entire fifteen-man pool that Coach Chot Reyes intends to use for the FIBA Asia Championships in August. Since many of them are still playing in the ongoing PBA Semifinals, only players whose teams were already eliminated were tapped against the Sharks (Japeth Aguilar, Jeff Chan, Gary David, Jun Mar Fajardo, and Gabe Norwood). The lineup was supplemented by members of the Gilas Cadet Pool, composed of players still in or fresh out of the college ranks (Kevin Alas, Garvo Lanete, Jake Pascual, Matt Ganuelas, Ronald Pascual, and RR Garcia). Naturalized center Marcus Douthit and former Ateneo Blue Eagle Greg Slaughter rounded out the lineup.

Though the Sharks had the overall height advantage, Gilas showed early in the game that it wanted to push the ball quickly and get some early offense. This Gilas team had perhaps the tallest frontline a national team has ever had, with Douthit (6’10), Aguilar (6’9), Fajardo (6’10), and Slaughter (7’0), who took turns guarding Zhang and made him work for every shot. It took some time for the Sharks’ offense to flow, and Gilas was up by six at the end of the first quarter, 20-14. Fajardo gave a good account of himself with some early points, flashing his soft touch on the jumper.

In the second quarter, Gilas tightened up on defense and scored in various ways, to up the lead and hold on to a thirteen point lead at the half, 43-30. By this time, most of the players on both lineups had played, with the coaches opting to rotate their lineups constantly. The Sharks could not find consistent outside sniping and thus tried often to go to Zhang inside, but the young big men of Gilas repeatedly offered resistance. Guard Ge Yang (6’5) did most of the ball-handling as Liu Wei was scratched out of the lineup, feeling ill before tip-off.

The Philippine Wushu athletes performed at the half wearing brightly-colored Chinese costumes, wowing the fans with their swift acrobatic spins and kicks. The attention of the crowd was diverted to the Gilas players throwing out basketballs to lucky patrons.

Gilas poured it on in the third quarter, building its biggest lead and comfortably ahead by nineteen, 71-52, at the end of thirty minutes of action. Aguilar, who Zhang had cleanly blocked on a dunk attempt in the first half, was able to slam a couple over Zhang, to the delight of the audience, and David put on a show from outside, hitting four of five from three-point land.

In the fourth, Coach Chot opted to go with a lineup of mostly Cadet Pool members. Shanghai started employing some fullcourt pressure and upped its intensity and energy, cutting the deficit to just five. The Sharks started driving into the lane and hitting layups, led by guard Meng Lingyuan (6’3) and forward Wang Sizhang (6’5). Reyes was forced to reinsert Norwood and Douthit into the lineup with a few minutes to go, as well as call some last minute plays, as Gilas held on for an eight-point victory, 80-72.

Sel was able to interview Coach Chot right after the buzzer sounded and he manifested his satisfaction with the way this version of Gilas played, particularly citing the big men for performing well. Notably, Douthit only scored two points, as he deferred to the other centers and allowed them to make their mark. Coach Chot was happy that his team played some defense, unlike during the PBA All-Star Game last Sunday Night (05 May) when he thought they played zero defense.

We chose Norwood as Best Player of the Game since he orchestrated the plays, hit some baskets, and distributed well enough to make the offense run smoothly. He finished with eleven points, eight assists, and three steals.

The game was hard-fought and physical. Both lineups would have been much stronger if all the regulars were available, but the crowd was still entertained and the players and coaches surely learned a lot from each other.

I capped a great night with fellow Yahoo! Sports PH guys Sid Ventura and Noel Zarate, and our friend Edison Ching, over some drinks. We talked about basketball until after midnight. It's just too bad we were unable to personally interview Yao, but it was a great night for basketball nonetheless.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @Charlie C