Korea Defeated Smart Gilas Pilipinas 70-68 To Claim Bronze in the 26th FIBA Asia Championship

It was a heart breaker and it came from a very familiar foe, Team Korea. I thought the game was on the bag last Sunday afternoon, with the Philippines leading most of the way leading to the final quarter. Then just seconds away a 3 pointer from a Korean player who has been struggling the whole game, poor free throw shooting, a block, the finale? a come from behind win from Korea 70-68 to claim the bronze medal in the 26th FIBA Asia Championship.

Moon Taejong who has been struggling since the China game, buried his only three pointer for the game with 47 seconds left on the game to give Korea the lead 67-65, Gilas has a chance to tie the game in Douthit free throw but he missed the second one but was able to grab the rebound only to be blocked by Moon. Still with the Korea leading by just a point 67-66, Kelly Williams was given 2 free throws on a foul by Oh, but misses both charities.

Smart Gilas still has a chance to tie the game with 9 second on a free throw by Lassiter, he sank the first one making it 69-68 but missed the second one, Douthit was able to grab the offensive rebound but turned the ball over. With Philippines down by one Casio fouled Cho, and sent him to the free throw line, Cho misses the first but sank the second one, giving Korea a 70-68 and the game.

Smart Gilas Pilipinas Won Over Syria 75-52 in the 2nd Round of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship

It was a shacky start for Smart Gilas Philippines in the first half, having trailed Syria by 9 points 23-32 at halftime. Mainly due to the foul trouble of Douthit. Things were different in the second half, as the Philippines put on the pressure as it won 75-52 to end its 2nd round in the 26th FIBA Asia Championship.

With its win the Smart Gilas Pilipinas is 2nd in its bracket, the Philippines will now face Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals.

In a way, it was good that Smart Gilas Pilipinas were not able to show their usual form and true strength against Syria, with the Taiwanese - in full fource in the scouting gallery.

"I deliberately not put in that much Jimmy Alapag and Kelly Williams in the first half as I calculated some things. We missed lot of shots and it was good we're able to turn things around in the second half," said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.

"And it's now the deciding games. We're looking forward to play Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. We know it's not going to be easy but we're optimistic," Toroman also said.

The knockout quarterfinals are set on Friday.

IRAN THE NEW POWERHOUSE IN ASIA

Iran beat China 70-52. Hamed Ehadadi scored 19 points and 17 rebounds, who helped Iran won against the highly favored China team. It was the first time I saw China being manhandled in a game( well in Asia of course, China has been the powerhouse in Asia Basketball for years now) and the first time China has lost a gold medal in FIBA Asia Championship. As I watched the game, I noticed that the Iran played like a European team while China played like the style of the NBA, is it because 3 of their players are either are current and former NBA players? At the start of the period Iran raced to an early lead and never relinquished it until the end of the game, they hit from all cylinders and even their bench contributed to the massacre. And their defense was unforgiving especially against Chinas superstar Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian.

Jordan won the bronze medal by beating Lebanon 80-66, and qualified along with China and Iran for the 2010 Turkey World Championships on August 28-September 12.