Teamwork vs HeroBall

Last night's game between Serbia and the Philippines was very lopsided. The score? 126-67. That's right, it looks like an exhibition game or a practice game by the Serbs to prepare against Italy tomorrow, Wednesday.

Nemanja Bjelica, who missed the game against Angola was perfect, 4/4 2FG, 3/3 3FG and 3/3 FT for 20 points. 7 players reached double figures while dominating the assist department with 37. With 48/64 from the field, 12/22 from downtown and 18/22 from the foul line, they just looked like practicing the whole game after having a deadlock of 11 all during the first quarter.

Moje Srbija forced the Philippines into 14 turnovers, and missed 20 of their 24 3 point shots, which implies that speed doesn't matter if you play hero-ball with Andray Blatche always gets depended with the ball, or CJ Perez, who was on the wrong side of the highlight reel when Vasilije Micić stole the ball from him and made a fabulous pass that lead to a Nikola Milutinov dunk. Most of the highlights by the Serbs were plain heart and teamwork. Nikola Jokić dropped 14/7/7 against an overrated Philippine frontline that can't even play hard on defense after the last tied score, Bogdan Bogdanović was just putting three point fireworks along the way with 17 points, 4/5 are from behind the arc.

Philippines showed why they won't be a better team unless they shift into European basketball. Andray Blatche, the US naturalized import with lots of NBA experience scored 5 points and fouled out in the 4th, missing 6 of 7 3 pointers. Džunmar Fahardo finished with 8 points and 6 rebounds, the best player outside of Blatche. The lowlight of the Philippine defeat was when Paul Lee did a Robert Horry-esque bump on Marko Gudurić in the middle of the 4th quarter, out of frustration, which was obviously dirty.

Bottomline: Srbija's teamwork and heart proved overwhelming to the Philippine hero-ball game.

Srbija will be preparing for Italija tomorrow, srećno orlovi!

Philippine Basketball vs Serbian Basketball

This may hurt certain Filipinos out there, for a number of reasons. In my opinion, of course. Let's examine why I am like this frenzied when throwing those Filipino basketball fanatics with reality bombs than just a fantasy world.

Look, the Serbian national team doesn't have imports to parade when they play against the world's best basketball teams. Unlike the Philippine basketball team that relentlessly allows naturalized Americans that instead of patrolling the paint, shoots too mid-range jumpers!!!!

Speaking of heart, I feel that the Serbs have more heart than the Filipinos. Why? Look on how the Serb have gotten this far, without too much budget from their own federation. Two silver medal finishes(2014 World's and 2016 Olympics) and decent Eurobasket finishes. The Philippines may have back-to-back silver medal finishes at FIBA Asia's(2013 and 2015) but finished worst in 2014 FIBA World Championships even they had Andray Blatche and the road to the Rio Olympics, whom the country was hosting the qualifying teams!

Guards? How Miloš Teodosić or Stefan Jović trumps Terrence Romeo or Jayson Castro? Both Teo and Stefan are pass first point guards, and teams benefit and win more with that kind of players. Jayson Castro could pass at times and has a reliable jumper, but Romeo often does the "shoot-first pass-later" mentality, mimicing the American style of selfish point guards! You don't have the height and try to collapse the opponent's defence with cross-overs and me not we mentality! You heard me!

Forwards and Centers? Guess we know Nikola Jokić but Filipinci forgot Srbi has Miroslav Raduljica or Milan Mačvan. But the current preliminaries have some selections: Boban Marjanović, Ognjen Kuzmić and uh, Vladimir Štimac. Vladimir can post up much better than the Filipino's bigs like Japeth Aguilar or even Andrey Blatche. Marko Gudurić's all around play although raw, is what Serbia needs for the future, unlike Kobe Paras, who hasn't developed a game yet..Maybe disturbed by lack of playing time at Creighton.

Serbia has more team-oriented offense than the Philippines, that relies on shoot-first point guard oriented offense. Unless Calvin Abueva will play more or shift to shooting guard, rely on Andray Blatche too much or on Terrence "Crocodile" Romeo's selfishness, they won't even get to the top 3 of the FIBA world standings, or even the set skills of Miloš Teodosić or Nikola Jokić, Marko Gudurić and other Serbs that play their hearts out even with fewer money!

Better to watch the KRS games

Something went into my mind. Aftet seeing the Serbs having a difficult time against Iran's Hamed Hadadi, they went on to win by 13 points by the final score of 83-70.  Sure Miroslav Raduljica is 7'0 and Hadadi is 7'3 or 2 but, the Serbian defense and his illegal pick late in the 2nd quarter was the key for the Serbs to take control of the game. Like the Greeks did, the Serbs were implementing one of their best half-court pressure. Miloš Teodosić is somewhat unselfish, almost having a double-double(8 points, 9 assists) while flashing and passing the ball to make his team much better. Nemanja Bjelica had 18 and 10 while for Iran, Hadadi did scored 29 points but got that fourth foul after an illegal pick late in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the Philippines lost another heartbraker to Argentina. The score 85-81, is somewhat my country needs to restructure it's own basketball system. Either foreigners should go through the youth system or get some with Filipino descent through careful selection. When your point guard is 5'11 that shoots first than passing and depending on American imports, we will be doomed.

Depending on Blatche would kill Gilas

As i saw how humiliating Philippines lost despite 21 points and 14 rebounds, it seems that the Filipinos cannot even make their own shots or even help Blatche on the defensive end. Giorgos Printezis aka the Greek Lightning and the hero of the 2012 Euroleague Finals scored 25 points and 8 rebounds in somewhat just destroyed a worn down Filipino defensive lines.

Greece doesn't have to rely on Kostas Papanikolaou or Giannis Antentekoumpo or even Vaggelis Mantzaris to generate an offense or depend on isolations. When you've got Jimmy Alapag or Jayson Castro or Paul Lee, you will have a Carmelo Anthony Archangel offense. Also known as stagnant offense but this time by Shoot First Pass Later Point guards.