‘TOL VIEWS

It there is one recent thrilling experience shared by all Filipino basketball aficionados and sports fanatics, it’s the adrenaline rush of the Gilas Pilipinas game against the Jordan Falcons last Feb. 27.  The heart-breaking loss came after the epic 107-96 victory over Lebanon last Feb. 24.  Our ballers fought hard, with all spirit and strength, but fell short in the final ticks of the game clock.  Hats off, nevertheless, for the heart they put in the game and for showcasing the Filipino brand of athleticism and sportsmanship. Losing by just one point means Gilas was a tiny inch away from clinching victory.  Luck just wasn’t on their side perhaps. While at the onset of the game, hope seemed at its lowest with Gilas trailing behind Jordan at a 60 to 41 tally at halftime. The Gilas squad led by Justin Brownlee, patiently rallied back and deadlocked the score at 88 with only one minute and 49 seconds left in the game. After this mark, a series of unfortunate events happened for Gilas Pilipinas.  Before everybody knew it, Gilas lost to the Falcons on a 91-90 note, breaking the Philippine squad’s four-game winning streak and leaving the team with a 6-4 win-loss slate. The Philippines had already defeated Jordan in two previous matches, one in August 2017 and one in November 2022, before losing this third meet last Monday. While Gilas dominated in assists and had a very slight advantage in rebounds during the Feb. 27 match, the team statistics for Jordan made the difference for them in that game. Brownlee, who is by the way only on his second game wearing the Gilas jersey, made a very impressive 41 points. There was even a quarter where Brownlee alone outscored the entire Jordan team.  Other Gilas players pitched their shares as well.  The Philippines surely played as a team that day.  Maybe the down the wire jitters just got the better of them. Whatever happened with the shots missed and the free throw lane blunders that allegedly caused the PH-Jordan game to slip out of Gilas’ hands, what counts the most is that even down the wire, Gilas Pilipinas never gave up. The match was definitely not without a really good fight.  Bilog ang bola, as the Filipino cliché goes, and any two teams engaged in a match has equal probabilities of winning and losing. At the end of the day, what really counts the most is perhaps the patience, the tenacity, the humility that grows from both our successes and failures.