Gilas Pilipinas breaks Korea hoodoo, books ticket to FIBA World Cup

Faced with daunting odds and with an old nemesis on the opposite end of the floor, Gilas Pilipinas showed what heart truly means in the sport of basketball.
Playing without Marcus Douthit for the last 25 minutes, the Filipinos on Saturday night displayed a lot of resolve and stunned Korea, 86-79, to make the Finals of the 27th Fiba-Asia Championship that also meant a slot in next year’s World Championship in Madrid, Spain.
Jimmy Alapag, Ranidel de Ocampo and Marc Pingris scored the baskets that stung the very efficient Koreans, scoring all of the Filipinos’ final 13 points that had Gilas Pilipinas erasing a 75-73 deficit to trigger a wild celebration in the stands at the packed Mall of Asia Arena.
“This game was nothing but heart for us,” Pingris told reporters while crying his heart out. “To all who have supported us, who prayed for us, you are the ones who give us strength.”
Pingris, who at just 6-foot-5 manned the slot with great effect for the Filipinos when Douthit limped out of the court with still five minutes left in the second period, iced the game for the Filipinos by beating the shotclock with under 20 seconds left for the final score.
And even before the final buzzer sounded, pandemonium erupted in the stands and coach Chot Reyes put his hands in his face and started to cry while being embraced by members of his coaching staff.
The players were unmindful of the ticks left on the clock and started hugging each other like brothers and started crying themselves, providing for the most poignant moments in the 15-nation tournament as fans later on started crying with all of them.
“We didn’t know how we did it,” Reyes, his eyes already swollen, addressed a throng of reporters. “2007 (in the Busan Asian Games) was a really bad experience for the Philippines.
“We lost in 2007 and we cried,” Reyes continued. He was also the coach of that squad. “And now we won and we’re still crying.”
Up next for the gritty Filipinos is Iran, the 2007 and 2009 champion which got an early scare from Chinese-Taipei before prevailing, 79-60, in the first Final Four match.
The Iranians trailed after the first quarter for the first time in eight games overall, but they opened up the second with a crippling 17-0 barrage that took the zing out of the game Taiwanese for the easy win.
Taiwan was totally blown out of the court in the third period when the Iranians played even more no-nonsense defense, holding the Taiwanese to just four points in the quarter to scoot away for good.
Iranian superstar Hamed Hadadi, though, paid tribute to the Taiwanese by saying that they are a better team than China in this tournament.
The comparison between the two countries will not stop from hereon after the Taiwanese had dethroned the defending champion Chinese emphatically, 96-78, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“Chinese-Taipei is a great team, greater than China in this tournament,” the 7-foot-2 Hadadi, who has a lot of legitimate NBA experience, told reporters. “China is not so great.”
Mahdy Kamrani, the Iranian’s heady 5-foot-10 guard, was at the forefront of the second quarter breakaway. He finished with 19 points, six rebounds and the same number of assists after getting most everyone involved.
The Filipinos actually blew a nine-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter – reminiscent of a similar breakdown they had before bowing to Chinese-Taipei last week – and trailed, 75-73 after a free throw by Lee Seung-jun with 3:41 to go.
It looked like the Koreans had taken the fight out of the Filipinos there.
But egged on by an overflow crowd that chanted “Puso! Puso! (Heart!),” the Filipinos summoned the last of their reserves and put on a finishing kick to remember.
The Filipinos led, 73-68 going into the final 4:53 only for Kim Minggoo to complete a rare four-point play off Jeff Chan. Athletic center Lee Seung-jun then had a two-handed breakaway dunk and a free throw that ushered the Koreans to that two-point lead.
Being the veteran of many international and professional wars, Alapag seemed to have made a conscious effort to take the game into his own hands, connecting on a trey to touch off the Filipinos’ closing run.
Korea led for the last time at 77-76 after a Lim Tae-sook short stab with 2:38 remaining before De Ocampo launched a three-point under heavy pressure that gave the upperhand back, and for good, to the Filipinos for 81-77.
The Koreans threatened for the last time after two Yang Donggeun charities, before Alapag buried them into a five-point hole by draining his fourth three-pointer for 84-79 going into the final 54 seconds.
It seemed that the world-class venue was rocking at this point, and it got even rowdier when Pingris, after collaring a defensive rebound on the other end, beat the 24-second shot clock that iced the game for the gritty Filipinos.
Aside from assuring that the Philippines will be back in the world cage stage next year, the win also erased painful memories of close losses to the Koreans in the past.
One of them was the 2002 setback in the Busan Asian Games, when Lee Min-kim nailed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer that allowed the Koreans to escape with a 69-68 win, which ultimately denied the Filipinos at least a bronze medal.
“We talked about personal histories,” Reyes said. “We knew that we had a chance to write our own history in this game – the Gilas Pilipinas history. And there’s no greater opportunity in life than to write your own history.
“Our motivation was pure: we just want to get in the finals,” continued Reyes. “By doing that, we can make the country proud. I told the players during the huddle that our objective was to win a medal, but our dream is to win the gold.”
The third and final slot to the World Championship will be disputed by Chinese-Taipei and the Koreans at 5 p.m. Sunday, before the Philippines, minus Douthit in all likelihood, tangles with the Iranians.
Douthit’s tender right shin took another hit after a hard drive to the basket. He made his way back to the locker room with still three minutes remaining in the second quarter and was not even considered to return by Reyes.