Smart Gilas Pilipinas smothers Chinese Taipei and book FIBA ASIA semis

Smart-Gilas Pilipinas surprise team Chinese Taipei and end a 24-year semifinal drought in FIBA tourney thus gave millions of Filipino fans back home a lot to cheer by with an impressive come from behind victory against a dangerous Taiwanese team with the score of 95-78. 

Naturalized center Marcus Douthit once again proved his dominance with game-highs on either end of the floor and with the support of JV Casio who sparked the Filipino rally tonight and all the around Filipino offense which put them in the semifinals for the 12th time in FIBA Asia Championship – but only the first time since the 1987 edition at Bangkok, where the team finished fourth.

“It’s a fantastic feeling,” gushed Philippines coach Rajko Toroman. 

“This (the win) shows this team has the ability to make history. Philippines team is in the semifinals after such a long time. I think we have the ability to go all the way,” he said.

“I think we didn’t control the rebounds well in the first quarter,” said Douthit who poured in a massive 37 points and collected 10 rebounds.

“We didn’t control their shooters. We gave them too many second chance points,” he added.

“It’s a dream moment. Playing for the National Team and making the semifinals of this competition is a dream come true,” said Ranidel De Ocampo who scored 18 points and collected 5 rebounds besides dishing out 3 assists.

“We were outplayed by a better team.

There’s no doubt in that,” said Taipei coach. 

Philipines will face a different and more confident and inspired Jordanian squad which stunned the two time defending champion and Asian powerhouse team Iran. 

FIBA-ASIA

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Douthit leads a successful and spirited Filipino rally

WUHAN, China (26th FIBA Asia Championship): Naturalized center Marcus Douthit raised the bar of his performance to the next level in the second half, and with the ‘just cleared’ Marcio Lassiter playing a very good second fiddle, Philippines rallied from a first half stutter to beat Jordan 72-64 in a pivotal Group F game on Monday.

Jordan ran the floor, and rolled the dice, for the entire first half and even seemed to head towards what would have been an unsurprising victory.

Sam Daghlas (white jersey in pic above) shelved all doubts about his injury and led the Jordanian offense from the front with 9 points in the first quarter, but would go on to add only as many over the next three quarters.

Douthit (blue jersey in pic above) on the other had rose in performance and confidence as the game progressed.

The 211-cm Providence alumnus who had merely 4 rebounds and as many points in the first half, went on to lead the game in scoring – with 19 points – and rebounds – with 15 collections.

The form, or the lack of it, of these two players was a synopsis of the way the pendulum swung in the game.

“I think we showed a lot of character,” said Philippines guard Chris Tiu, who dished out a game-high 4 assists.

Philippines’ cause received a shot in the arm, when Lassiter – along with Chris Lutz – was cleared to don the Filipino colors.

The 188-cm guard made his appearance at the start of the second quarter, and went on to score 14 points – six of them in the third quarter, when Philippines began their rally.

“I think this was the biggest win of life, considering the circumstances,” said Philippines coach Rajko Toroman.

“We are not mentally as tough as we have to be,” rued Jordan coach Tab Baldwin.

“I know I am saying this for the second game on the trot, but then that is what it is,” he added.

“We didn’t what we had to on Marcus. In the first half managed to keep him under check, but we lost the grip as the game went on,” Baldwin said.

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EUROBASKET 2011 - Spain wins over France

KAUNAS (EuroBasket 2011) - Juan Carlos Navarro was named the Most Valuable Player of EuroBasket 2011 and headlined the All-Tournament team which included Tissot Ambassador Tony Parker.

Navarro had 27 points and five assists as Spain defeated France 98-85 in Sunday's Final to successfully defend the title they won in Poland in 2009 and clinch an automatic place into the 12-team field for next year's Olympic Basketball Tournament in London.

Sergio Scariolo's men made history as they became the first repeat champions of Europe since Yugoslavia 20 years ago.

Navarro, nicknamed 'La Bomba', saved some of his best performances for last, scoring 26 or more points in each of Spain's last three games, including a 35-point explosion in the Semi-Final win over F.Y.R. of Macedonia.

The 31-year-old guard was rewarded for his clutch play throughout the tournament as the media picked him as the MVP and he was presented with a special edition Tissot T-Touch Expert watch by FIBA President Yvan Mainini and Lithuanian basketball great Arvydas Sabonis.

Navarro also headlined the All-Tournament team.

He was joined on it by team-mate Pau Gasol, F.Y.R. of Macedonia guard Bo McCalebb, forward Andrei Kirilenko of Russia and France's Parker.

Parker helped France reach their first final of an international basketball tournament since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Getting to the championship game allowed Les Bleus to book their own place in the London Games.

Parker led all players in scoring with 22.1 points per game and ranked fourth in assists (4.4).

Mr Mainini and Mr Sabonis presented all five players with specially engraved PRC 200 watches to celebrate their contribution to the tournament.

FIBA

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NBA players on FIBA rosters for Olympic qualifiers

NBA players set to compete for their national teams in upcoming FIBA tournaments:

FIBA Americas (Aug. 30 - Sept. 11)

Group A
Canada -- Joel Anthony (Miami), Cory Joseph (San Antonio), Andy Rautins (New York)
Dominican Republic -- Francisco Garcia (Sacramento), Al Horford (Atlanta), Charlie Villanueva (Detroit)
Venezuela -- Greivis Vasquez (Memphis)
Brazil -- Tiago Splitter (San Antonio)

Group B
Puerto Rico -- Carlos Arroyo (Boston), Renaldo Balkman (New York), J.J. Barea (Dallas)
Panama -- Gary Forbes (Denver)
Argentina -- Carlos Delfino (Milwaukee), Manu Ginobili (San Antonio), Andres Nocioni (Philadelphia), Luis Scola (Houston)

EuroBasket (Aug. 31- Sept. 18)

Group A
Great Britain -- Luol Deng (Chicago)
Lithuania -- Donatas Motiejunas (Houston), Darius Songalia (Philadelphia), Jonas Valanciunas (Toronto)
Spain -- Jose Calderon (Toronto), Rudy Fernandez (Dallas), Marc Gasol (Memphis), Pau Gasol (L.A. Lakers), Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City), Ricky Rubio (Minnesota)
Turkey -- Omer Asik (Chicago), Semih Erden (Cleveland), Ersan Ilyasova (Milwaukee), Enes Kanter (Utah), Hedo Turkoglu (Orlando)

Group B
France -- Nicolas Batum (Portland), Rodrigue Beaubois (Dallas), Boris Diaw (Charlotte), Ian Mahinmi (Dallas), Joakim Noah (Chicago), Tony Parker (San Antonio), Kevin Seraphim (Washington), Ronny Turiaf (New York)
Germany -- Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas), Chris Kaman (L.A. Clippers)
Italy -- Andrea Bargnani (Toronto), Marco Belinelli (New Orleans), Danilo Gallinari (Denver)
Latvia -- Andris Biedrins (Golden State)
Serbia -- Milan Macvan (Cleveland)

Group CCroatia -- Bojan Bogdanovic (New Jersey)
Greece -- Kosta Koufos (Denver), Nick Calathes (Dallas)
Montenegro -- Nikola Pekovic (Minnesota), Nikola Vucevic (Philadelphia)

Group D
Belgium -- D.J. Mbenga (New Orleans)
Georgia -- Zaza Pachulia (Atlanta)
Russia -- Andrei Kirilenko (Utah), Timofey Mozgov (Denver)
Slovenia -- Goran Dragic (Houston)
Ukraine -- Kyrylo Fesenko (Utah)

FIBA Asia (Sept. 15-25)

China -- Yi Jianlian (Washington)
Iran -- Hamed Hadadi (Memphis)

FIBA Oceania (Sept. 7-11)

Australia -- Patrick Mills (Portland)

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No place like home for Hedo

ORLANDO (NBA) - The once remembered playmaker/facilitator for the Magic that help them reached the 2009 NBA Finals has found his magic touch again. After playing sparringly with two different teams since - Toronto last season and then traded to Phoenix for Brazilian hot shot Leandro Barbosa until the 3rd week of December 2010 - Turkoglu is back in Orlando plus Jason Richardson and Earl Clark  following a major trade with Phoenix that sent Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Michael Pietrus and on Monday night versus the Golden State Warriors, he had a triple-double as the Magic beat the visiting warriors, 110-90.

A member of the all-tournament team at the FIBA World Championship 2010 last year after helping host nation Turkey reach the gold-medal game vs Team USA, Turkoglu finished with 10 points, 10 assists and 14 rebounds.


Team USA's Dwight Howard had 22 points and 17 rebounds and Jason Richardson poured in 20 points as the Magic improved to 22-12 and dropped the Warriors to 13-21.


"I'm glad I finally did something to help this team win," said Turkoglu.


"When I have the ball in my hands, I'm able to do the things I'm good at.


“My strength is to be the guy who is a facilitator, get my shot or find one for my teammates."


Turkoglu is averaging nine boards per game since his return to Orlando.

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