Pasundayag ni kitek neer

Happening now is the first ever World Pole Vault Challenge at Ayala Triangle Gardens.
World class athletes and our very own EJ Obiena to compete and showcase their talents.

EuroBasket 2025 result
battle for the Championship

GER 88 - TUR 83

Turkey made a strong start in the 1st quarter but Germany able to recover and keep it close. Turkey led for most of the game only to relinquish it to Germany in the last 2 minutes with Schroder leading the push for win.

EuroBasket 2025 result:
Battle for 3rd

GRE 92 - FIN 89

Greece was leading the game all the way by double digits until Finland made a run in the middle of the 4th qtr to as close as 1pt.
Valtonen had the chance to tie the score at 90 with 3 free throws awarded from a foul. Only to miss the 3rd one and Jantunen had the chance also to take the lead on a follow up with 5 seconds left but it was short. Then Giannis Antetokounmpo sank clutch free throws for the win.
Funny because the commentators were already giving the flowers for Greece and some players for the impending win at the podium but almost retracted by how the game became interesting in the end.

Alex Eala lost to Janice Tjen
4-6, 1-6
Sao Paulo Open quarterfinals match

she looked tired.
still congratulations for going deep into the tournament!

FIBA Asia Cup result

end of the 4th qtr
AUS 90 - CHN 89

AUS won by a hair! They are still unbeaten since joining this tournament. CHN just made a bad ex*****on in the dying seconds but they certainly had a chance.
It was another back and forth basketball. Both teams showing that they deserve to be in the finals. Never thought CHN could stay at par with AUS for this game. Zhao Rui was checked by AUS defense but his teammates took the scoring load.

end of 3rd qtr
AUS 68 - CHN 71

AUS took the lead momentarily by 3 pts early in the qtr. And the rest of the qtr was back and forth basketball. CHN again made a strong finish in the qtr to take the lead heading to the final qtr.

end of 2nd qtr
AUS 42 - CHN 46

CHN led as high as 15 in this qtr but AUS bounced back showing suffocating defense. However, CHN closed the qtr strong to keep a little distance.

end of 1st qtr
AUS 17 - CHN 25

Chinese having the edge with their shooting and better defense.

FIBA Asia Cup result

end of 4th qtr
AUS 92 - IRI 48

A lopsided victory for the Australian boomers right from the get go. The Iranians had their strong showing in the 1st qtr but, eventually the boomers locked them on defense. The IRI team's offense was almost always pushed to the end of the shot clock on a contested attempt.

The AUS team will battle China (CHN) in the finals.

FIBA Asia Cup result

End of 4th qtr
NZL 90 - LEB 86

End of 3rd qtr
NZL 56 - LEB 62

End of 2nd qtr
NZL 30 - LEB 45

End of 1st qtr
NZL 12 - LEB 32

On what looked like an upset by Lebanon, the New Zealand Tall Blacks slowly climbed and chipped the early lead to pull off a completed comeback in the final quarter.

The guards of LEB were very scrappy on defense especially in the 1st quarter combined with great shooting giving them the lead as high as 21 points. But their shooting regressed as NZL also tightened on defense and slowly found their offensive groove. Slowly chipping away the lead, the NZL tall blacks eventually made the advantage late in the game and continue to hold until the final buzzer.
NZL will play China for the semifinals.

Has this Gilas Pilipinas team composition showed their true potential in this recent FIBA Asia Cup?

I don't think so! It seems to be the usual pattern when it comes to preparations into tournaments that final set of players are selected in less than 2 months from the tournament. I don't know who or how the planning were done but with this and previous results, it never was the best planning.
Gilas Pilipinas needs that continuing program for select pool of players and coaches to devout their efforts for team camaraderie and consistency. Some known sports figures and casters say that the current composition is strong but is not able to do it together.
Had Gilas Pilipinas 1.0 and 2.0 program were continued, we might just have by now a cohesive group that can compete with Asia's contenders and the world.
Let's call on the personalities handling Gilas Pilipinas program to revisit, review and revise more comprehensive and forward-looking strategies to strengthen current and future aspirants to play with honor and authentic love and passion for basketball as well service to the country.

World University Basketball Series result

Univ of the Phil (UP) - 77
Univ of Sydney (USYD) - 96

Turnovers, dismal 3-pt shooting and inefficient overall ex*****on of UP resulted to this big loss. They made a fight in the 1st half. Even made a run to take the lead momentarily nearing the end of the 2nd qtr. But in the 3rd qtr, that's where USYD broke loose and carried it's momentum to the final qtr.
UP now will fight for the 5th place.

FIBA Asia Cup result
end of 1st qtr: PHI 12 - IRQ 18
Another dismal performance for Gilas. Energy and confidence was low. Gave up 4 3pt shots to IRQ. Brownlee & Ramos, our consistent scorers, were tentative and not looking to score.
end of 2nd qtr: PHI 33 - IRQ 33
The insertion of Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and CJ Perez sparked some life to the offense and defense. Ball was moving fast giving IRQ difficulty on defense. This should not have been tied. This was supposed to be around 10 pts and above lead by the Gilas.
end of 3rd qtr: PHI 55 - IRQ 40
Dwight Ramos happened. Energy on defense happened. This outburst was expected and this was late. Should have been right from the start.
End of 4th qtr: PHI 66 - IRQ 57
Although Gilas won, they somewhat relaxed in the final qtr. Momentum was not carried over. IRQ almost made it a little interesting with a scoring run.

Had JB scored more, it would have been a more one-sided affair. But, it was understandable for him to pace himself for this game. That's what was expected. But a win is a win. And Gilas needed that win to proceed to the next phase of matches.

The Gilas team's performance after 2 games at the FIBA Asia Cup is not really bad though both resulted to losses.
Takeaways:
- never let big leads by opponents in the 1st qtr
- Junemar and AJ are great anchors in defense. How much more if Kai was healthy. But these 2 should be given scoring opportunities as they can help open the shooters if they become threats. This was pointed out before on a previous post in reference to the past tournaments
- more trusts to Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao. They will be the future of Gilas, they need in-game experience.
- make Dwight Ramos a threat right from the start. He did his magic in the 2nd half of the 2 games.
- offensive sets should not be focused on Justin Brownlee. Variate scoring opportunities on triangle offense. Though JB delivers, opponent's defense can easily focus their efforts to stopping or slowing him. JB should be able to sustain his energy until finish.

end of 4th qtr
PHI 86 - NZL 94

The comeback fell short.
Another questionable call to AJ Edu on a clear block.
Gilas had a hard time guarding ball screens ending up on several easy layups by NZL.
Brownlee having a monster game for Gilas with Dwight Ramos also with solid contributions.
Great showing overall on defense and most especially on offense as this was what's lacking vs TPE.

2 games down with bad 1st qtrs.
Hopefully, better start in the next games!