Smart Gilas Pilipinas (4-0) vs. Al Jalaa Syria (1-4)
After Al Jalaa Syria was beaten by Al Riyadi Lebanon 86-73 in the penultimate match of the preliminary rounds of the 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup, head coach Mensur Bajramovic couldn’t hide his dismay. The Bosnian coach congratulated the Lebanese team on their victory and ended his brief statement by saying: “I am disappointed in my team and how they played.”
Al Jalaa had swept the Syrian Basketball League 24-0 including a three-zero whitewashing of Al Jeish Damascus for the title. Al Jeish upended them in the finals the previous year after they picked up former Villanova center Chris Charles who previously played for Al Jalaa and Al Riyadi. Al Jalaa, with former NBA player Samaki Walker in harness, blitzed their way through the ten-team Syrian pro league.
The loss to Al Riyadi was more humiliating as the Beirut club played only its bench. But the “bench” term is rather misleading because they feature some of the regular players as Al Riyadi picked up Rodrigue Akl from Anibal Zahle and Fadi El Khatib (who bolted Riyadi the previous season) from Champsville to bolster their Champions Cup campaign.
Despite the woeful 1-4 record, Al Jalaa made the quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia tournament.
Thousands of miles away, Charles, who is now in Jordan was shocked at the poor showing of Al Jalaa. “Maybe they are burned out,” he offered.
“Maybe the day off (Thursday) will bring back focus,” hoped Bajramovic.
Lebanese guard Omar El Turk was more lucid about the state of mind of the Syrian players: “There’s a war (or the violent uprising which is now on it’s third month) back home and here they are playing basketball. They left behind their families and friends. I know what it’s like being from Lebanon. I really know what that is like.”
Unfortunately, Al Jalaa is up against a dangerous Smart Gilas Pilipinas that is growing with confidence with every match. For the first time in their three-year participation in the tourney, the Filipinos finished the group stage with a 4-0 slate complete with a squeaker over ASU Jordan 76-74 in the preliminary stages’ final match.
While the Filipinos hurdled a big test against Jordan, it reconfirmed its fears, their weakness at the power forward position. “But our forwards – Mac Baracael and Marcio Lassiter – played with a lot of heart,” said Rajko Toroman the team’s head coach for the past three years.
The man in the middle of Gilas’ campaign is naturalized center Marcus Douthit who is leading the team in scoring with 13.8 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per match. Against Jordan’s Jameel Watkins, Douthit canceled out his counterpart’s contributions with scoring and defense with his own. In fact, he even forced Watkins into two traveling violations. But matters changed when Douthit picked up is third foul and spent more time on the bench.
While Dondon Hontiveros (10.8 ppg) and Jayvee Casio (10.0) are the only others in double figure scoring, Gilas has had pretty much balanced scoring. Al Jalaa on the other hand has only two players in double figures: Jamaal Miller (12.0ppg) and Marcelle Yaqqub (10.3ppg).
“We have talent, the bench, and speed on our side,” underscored Toroman of his team’s pluses. Curiously, the coach did not mention the high energy and frenetic pace that has been a trademark of Gilas basketball.
“Everyone talks about Gilas’ speed,” noted Lebanese coach Fouad Abou Chakra about the Filipinos. “But they have the best running game I have seen because of the way they pass that ball around. And if you watch closely, they play very good defense. They play good perimeter and zone defense. You have to be creative against them.”
Even with Samaki Walker playing the slot (he normally plays the four spot), Al Jalaa has preferred to fire away from the outside. They will need to go inside to Walker if they want to make any headway. ASU Jordan showed the kink in Gilas’ armor and while Al Jalaa may have some size, so far, they have not brought it to bear.
Rebounding, an old problem of the team in previous competitions, looks to have been solved as Gilas has in its four matches, outrebounded the opposition. Douthit and Asi Taulava (9.5 rpg) have controlled the lane while Walker is tops for Syria with a poor 7.0 rebounds per outing. As a total, the Filipinos pull down 46.2 rebounds per match while the Syrians grab 36.2.
And there’s the matter of the addition of Dondon Hontiveros who gives Gilas another gunner. After a poor first outing against Al Ittihad Saudi Arabia, Hontiveros has come alive with some terrific shooting. Now he’s a marked man. If Gilas can free him up with their staggered screens and make those jumpers, it opens their game up for Douthit, Taulava, and Japeth Aguilar to do their thing.
Gilas can run with Mark Barroca at the point or play a half court set with Casio running the show. And Chris Tiu, who has had a marvelous tournament so far, doesn’t need to put up points on the board to be effective. Both Casio and Tiu and the second and third best assist men in the tournament respectively (behind Jordan’s Sam Daghles). Gilas averages 19.0 apg while Al Jalaa has 16.0 apg.
If the Syrian club continues to play the disconnected game it has shown so far, they will be in trouble from the get go. But if they learn a thing or two from Jordan by playing physical and playing inspired basketball, then they might stand a chance. But they have to show up. They cannot have Miller disappearing for long stretches.
Syria is at a low point while Gilas’ confidence is soaring high.
If they do get to run and they are dunking and nailing treys with wild abandon, then this game will be over – even at the half.
But whatever happens, look for Smart Gilas to advance to the semifinals stage (with an even bigger crowd at the Philsports Arena) for the first time.
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