Puso! My post-FIBA post.

I know this is a late post but I am still feeling high from the recent showing of our Team Gilas Pilipinas in the just concluded FIBA World Championships a few weeks ago. Hats off to the players, coaches, trainers, team officials and Mr. MVP for bringing basketball pride back to our country and giving hope to the future generations of basketball players.

Yes, we only won one game. But that one win, which was our first win in the competition in the last 30 years (!), was all that we needed to rally all our kababayans and show to the rest of the world that Pinoy basketball is backkkkkkk!

In fact, we could have won 2 more games, versus Argentina and Croatia, but unfortunately, due to lack of international experience, breaks of the game and the unfamiliarity of the Pinoy players with their new teammate, Andre Blatche, we lost really by just the skin of our teeth.

But I am sure you have seen the tweets from the international sports writers about their amazement at how the smallest Pilipinas team was able to almost upset those Western giants. In fact, if there ever was an award for the most exciting team to watch in the tournament, we definitely would have won that award — hands down! (Have you seen how boring and lopsided the Team USA games were?)

Now, the challenge to our Gilas players is this: use the experience you gained battling the giants in FIBA and apply that to our next international tourneys like the Asian Games and the Jones Cup. The bruising picks that you got from Luis Scola and the sharp elbows that you received from JJ Barea should have made you tougher by now. Continue training hard and put your country ahead of yourself. Dive for those loose balls, gang rebound, and kill them with your speed.

As I am writing this, the Gilas Pilipinas is playing against their Asian nemesis, Iran. In fact, I am wearing now my blue Nike Pilipinas Basketball t-shirt, which I ordered from Zalora.com.ph (a good place to shop for sports gear and equipment online, by the way) in support of the team and hopefully will bring good luck to us (yes, I am that superstitious.) Okay, maybe I should wear it every game until we win the gold medal.