GILAS Pilipinas did us proud again by hammering out impressive back-to-back wins last weekend.
Before the twin triumphs, even the most grizzled observers were skeptical.
But the way Gilas performed brought pride to a nation reeling from so much pain brought about by widespread corruption from the deepest corridors of the government, not to mention catastrophic monsoon rains that caused terrible misery to many parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, the past two weeks or so.
The euphoria began on Friday, when Gilas nipped Jordan, 82-81, almost leaning on a miracle to snatch the victory from the so-called jaws of defeat.
It was basically the troika of CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao and Kai Sotto that made it possible, combining forces to eke out the win when the game hung by a thread in overtime.
With seconds left and the score tied at 79-all, Perez drove right of the lane, only to see it fit to pass the ball to Quiambao who was firmly planted on the left quarter court.
The 6-foot-6 Quiambao quickly took aim and buried a ring-less three, giving Gilas an 82-79 lead with 11.7 seconds left.
Before that, Perez, the famous San Miguel Beer slasher, had almost single-handedly carried the Gilas cause with his numerous incursions to keep the country in the thick of things.
Jordan had threatened at 81-82 on two charities and, with 9.7 ticks left, was in a position to steal the game following Scottie Thompson’s five-second inbound violation.
But the 7-foot-1 Sotto became the human ambulance, swatting away Abdullah Olajuwon’s possible winning basket for Jordan near the keyhole.
The win, coming after Jordan had wasted an 18-point lead, seemed to have energized Gilas against Iran on Sunday.
Despite another lethargic start, Gilas roared back with unrestrained firepower anew and pummeled Iran for a rousing 68-56 win and a two-game sweep of Window 4 of the Asian qualifiers for the Fiba World Cup next year in Doha, Qatar.
More importantly, the win gave Gilas a 4-4 record, enhancing our chances of nabbing one of three slots to the main proper of the event where we never missed a berth the last three editions from 2013.
“I said before this series that I’d be the happiest guy in the world if we beat Jordan and Iran,” said Gilas coach Tim Cone. “I’m extremely happy.”
Who isn’t?
