The Philippines is contented in joining the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time since the Sonny Jaworski era. They will play just to gain international experience and to revel in playing against the likes of Luis Scola and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The target is to lose by not more than 20 points and try to win against Senegal, a country most Filipinos cannot locate in the world map.

Well, this is my exact prediction of the Philippines’ stint in the Fiba Worlds. Anyway, Gilas is a work in progress anyway and it is premature for us to match Europe’s and America’s finest. I was surprised (and almost peed in my pants) when FCF junior writer Francis Fulgar texted me that Gilas’ game against Croatia went to overtime while I was stuck in traffic in Cavite on my way home. Stunned, I clicked on the Fiba website upon arriving home and Francis’ news was true. Croatia won, 81-78, not 81-48.

Ok, I thought Gilas’ overtime loss in the opener was a fluke. I observed that the slowpoke Croatian bigs could not contain Andray Blatche. They also did not anticipate that Jeff Chan was a sharpshooter and not just some Chinese-looking dude who looked more of a taipan than a baller. They did not expect Pingris to play like he’s seven-footer. They did not expect that our wily point guards are playground hustlers who could break ankles with impunity.

Then the game against number five Greece, bannered by the Greek Freak Antetokounmpo, went down the wire, with the Philippines losing supposedly by nine points (it turned out to be twelve, 70-82, because of that d*ck last second trey by Kostas Kaimakoglou when the Gilas men were no longer defending).

Then came the game versus 2004 Olympic gold medalist and world number three Argentina, led by NBA veterans Luis Scola, Pablo Prigioni, and Andres Nocioni. We led the Argentines by as much as ten in the first half only to lose by four, 81-85, in the endgame.

Needless to say, the Philippines’ game against the world’s finest broke myths. We may be literally losers for not winning a single game as of yet, but we won the hearts and minds of the basketball world.

In this edition of From the 15th Parallel, we will feature the top five myths debunked by the Badass Gilas.

1. Andray Blatche is a mercenary who will get millions after his Gilas stint. He became a Filipino even if he has no Filipino blood, heritage, and appetite for balut. Heck, he was declared a Filipino even if he has not landed here (and experience Manila’s infamous traffic jam). The Philippine Congress naturalized him hastily and when his contract expires, he’ll just wave ba-bye to us.

Let’s face it—Andray Blatche is not in any way a Filipino. No Filipino blood, no Filipino affinity, and no sense of Filipino time (he comes early to practice every day) whatsoever. He is indeed hired by the MVP group to boost the Filipino campaign in Spain. He is big, mobile, athletic, has dribbling skills, and a shooter. Imagine a sportsmanlike Calvin Abueva is he is 6’11”. That’s Andray Blatche.

What we’ve seen though is that since the second quarter of the Croatia game, Blatche’s right knee got busted but played through the pain. Though he had a little limp, he finished the game and went to score all of Gilas’ seven points in overtime. He even played through the pain in the game versus Greece and even if he was a game time decision versus Argentina, he still played 24 minutes.

Remember, this guy has a budding NBA career to preserve. He was worth USD8.5 million (Php 371 million) for 2014 alone. Expect that his stock will be boosted for next season, given his yeoman’s performance in Spain. While his 2014 earnings for the Brooklyn Nets is still lower than PNoy’s Pork Barrel, it is still a huge amount for Manny Pangilinan to match. Having said that, he still wants to play all 40 minutes in the remaining games even at the risk of having a torn ACL or any career-ending injury. Yet, sports pundits still consider him as mere mercenary.

2. Gilas is all about Blatche plus a bunch of wide-eyed Pinoy ballers who will line up to get the autographs of Scola, Pau Gasol, and Lebron James (but Lebron’s not playing, eh). Chot Reyes will run just one simple play: give the ball to Blatche and bahala na.

Indeed, Blatche dominates the stats in Spain. He averages 21 points, 13.7 rebounds, two steals, and jacks up 17 shots a game, making seven of them, all in 33 of the maximum 40 minutes in a game. The next leading scorer is Ranidel de Ocampo with a mere nine points a game while the next leading rebounder is Marc Pingris with five rebounds a game.

However, even if Blatche gets the most possessions (he would even play point guard at times), it is Jimmy Alapag who leads in assists with 3.7 assists per game while Blatche has only 0.3 to show. And while he is the tallest player in the team, it is Junemar Fajardo who gets one block a game even if he is playing a mere nine minutes a game while Blatche has only 0.7 blocks per game.

Furthermore, our homegrown men paid no respect against the elite names. Chan scorched the hoops against Croatia for 17 points when Blatche was benched because of injury while Pingris displayed excellent footwork and defense in the third quarter, which are reasons why Gilas mounted runs to overcome a 13-point first quarter deficit.

Against Greece, the 6’6” Gabe Norwood shut the door against the 6’11” Antetokounmpo while sub-six footers Alapag, LA Tenorio, and Jayson Castro (William) limited Nick Calathes, for a while a starting point guard for the Memphis Grizzlies (when Mike Conley was injured), to nine points and 3-of-9 shooting.

And of course, the revelation against Argentina is that the Philippines can rout, even momentarily, the highly-touted Argentine team without Blatche. The Philippines erected leads of ten points when Blatche was benched after being assessed with two early fouls. Ranidel de Ocampo, Alapag, Norwood, and Fajardo shone the brightest, as the former two shot the lights out while the latter two dealt problems to Scola and Nocioni with their defense.

And as a side note, Fajardo is the second best player in the tournament so far in terms of Player Efficiency Rating (PER). With a PER of 44.92, he is only behind Spain’s Pau Gasol and ahead of fantasy hotshots Anthony Davis of the United States and Serge Ibaka of Spain. PER measures a player’s performance based on his per-minute statistics.

3. Gabe Norwood will play the role of shock absorber. He will receive the nastiest humiliation as he is the designated defender against NBA stalwarts like Bojan Bogdanovic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Andres Nocioni.
With his height, athleticism, and length, it is logical that Norwood is the designated defender against the best wingman of the opposing team. While not knows as a scoring machine, Norwood is the team’s stabilizer on both defense and offense, making him the unsung hero of Gilas.

Assuming the role of shock absorber, Norwood played excellently in the tournament, except when he went against Bogdanovic, who torched him with 26 points. He bounced back though versus Greece, limiting Antetokounmpo to only three points and only three missed shots, all from the three point arc. Nocioni meanwhile afforded only nine points and 2-of-10 shooting against Norwood’s defense.

And of course, Norwood’s dunk over Scola is just a mere highlight reel to his overall performance so far. Bottom line is, he was not outshined by the best of them. And to conclude this part, I firmly believe that among the Gilas standouts, Norwood is NBA material who can play the point guard position. At 29, he is still ripe to apply for the draft. Who knows?

4. Jimmy Alapag is Chot Reyes’ favorite player. He is 36 years old, 5’8”, and is past his prime considering that his best PBA season was way back in 2010. The Fiba Worlds is just a sendoff party for his retirement and he will play only a few minutes in ceremonial fashion. Reyes could have consider a bigger man who could play point guard, like Norwood, Jared Dillinger, or even Ray-Ray Parks instead of sticking with Alapag.

Perhaps Alapag is the most underestimated player in Philippine basketball today. The Fil-Am was selected 10th overall in the 2003 PBA Draft and was picked behind the likes of Eddie Laure, Brandon Cablay, and Marlon Legaspi, whose face does not appear in Google search.

His 2010 MVP award was even questioned as Arwind Santos was statistically superior to him while Mark Caguioa was the fan favorite to win the award.

Even in the 2013 Fiba Asiad, Alapag was overshadowed by Castro for the latter was named in the Mythical Five even if it was Alapag who sank the winning shots against South Korea, sending the Philippines to the Fiba Worlds.

Despite his achievements, Alapag was still humble and conservative about how he would perform in Sevilla. “Knowing the World Cup will be my last tournament, I’ve really just tried to embrace this last stint to the fullest,” he told Rappler.com. And by “embracing this last stint to the fullest,” this means scaring the hell out of Argentina in the second half, where he threw five three-pointers, all off the dribble, all of at least a foot behind the three-point arc, all against the defense of six-footers. Against Croatia and Greece, the Philippines played in a more orderly manner and would mount comebacks whenever Alapag is in control. Overall, he is the team’s best passer at 3.7 assists per game, best three-point shooter at 50 per cent, and is the least error prone with a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, all at twenty minutes of action per game.

5. Because of their stunning performance, Gilas has played beyond their potential. They are playing their best basketball, perhaps in their lifetime, and that their losses are brought about by their opponent’s natural superiority.

The fact that Gilas lost by an average of six points a game against perennial Fiba Worlds participant is already an achievement. Nay, it is an overachievement. They have proven that they belong to world with a flawless gameplay marked by impeccable shooting, execution, and above all, PUSO!

Wait, because Gilas were not beaten black and blue by the likes of Croatia, Greece, and Argentina means that they have played flawless basketball? Not that Gilas did not play their best—I am sure that they gave their all in those three games. But they could have played smarter. They could have won all the games if they knew how to adjust midgame. However, their stint is the first in 36 years. Now, they have learned.

As remarked by Patrick Orquia on Facebook after the game versus Croatia:

“Is it just me who thinks na parang nagulat ang Gilas na kayang-kaya pala nilang talunin ‘yung Croatia, and when the glaring opportunity was right there in their faces, hindi nila alam kung ano gagawin nila? Parang they went into the game with the mind set of they would eventually lose, which eventually happened because they f*cked up with that anything-goes play at the end of regulation. Tsk… I’m still proud of the team and it is just hard to take na they could have won the game if they only worked on it a bit more. I think I would have accepted it more if they lost with a big margin and they fought hard and the opponent was just overwhelmingly superior, than losing by 3 points because their heart was not up to the challenge from a stunned and totally beatable opponent.”

As for the game against Argentina, blogger Benj Espina shouted out:
“That Argentine offense was just BEAUTIFUL. They found an open three every time they wanted one. Amazing discipline.”

For one, it is given that we will trail behind in rebounding, as we average only 39 rebounds a game. We also average 37 per cent in three-point shots but that is because we have to jack up 26 treys a game because it is really hard to fight toe-to-toe against bigger opponents in the shaded lane.

The most telling though is that we only dish out 11 assists a game and most of those assists are passes to open three-point shooters. We could not execute backdoor plays or pick-and-rolls so we can get easier open shots from inside. Aside from that, we commit 22 fouls a game, which means we get into penalty every quarter. Moreover, most of those fouls come in transition, which means that the other teams are hard to stop on the fastbreak. We can’t afford to give up too many free throws to the opponent, especially since free throw shots are rarely missed by European and American teams.

Yes, Gilas have played their hearts out, but if this is coupled with motion offense, more set plays for open inside stabs, and better transition defense, we might rout Puerto Rico and Senegal in the next game. Maybe, Chot Reyes may borrow some tricks from Gregg Popovich.

RELATED: Relive Gilas’ 2013 FIBA Asia Championship run with spot-on figures