16/02/2018
Paulo Kennedy's view from Downunder
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Can the Philippines beat the Boomers?

MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - If you listened to some people in Australia, national team boss Andrej Lemanis could round up 12 blokes at the local basketball stadium in Brisbane, measure them for a green and gold uniform and roll any team in Asia.

Even when talking about the challenge of playing the Philippines in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers, there have been comparisons in standard with Oceania's third-tier club competition, the SEABL.

"The Philippines are a very, very good basketball team," Lemanis said. "I think that is sometimes lost on the general public. There seems to be this perception that we'll just walk through the Asia zone.

"People don't understand how good international basketball is, they don't give these teams the credit they deserve."

This article isn't really a criticism of those who underestimate the quality of the top Asian teams. It's more a commentary on two things.

The first is that, for many hoops fans Downunder, the basketball world is a binary affair, consisting of the NBL and the NBA, with four-yearly extra-terrestrial visits from the Olympics.

Hopefully, with more meaningful games on Aussies shores, the increased important of the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the friendly timezones for both China 2019 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will help change that.

The second is so many local fans constantly underestimate the quality of players in the NBL and how good the team execution is in this part of the world, hence they devalue any national team beaten by the NBL Boomers.

When current Finnish national team star Jamar Wilson played in Australia following a number of years in Europe, he commented to me about the difference in physicality, competitiveness and team defence.

All those three things exist in Europe, of course, but they are different here.

Wilson said in his European experiences, defence was more of a one-on-one thing, whereas in the NBL there was a huge focus on team defence, aggressively targeting certain opposition players and certain parts of the offence to create disruption.

Then there was that physicality that Australian and New Zealand basketball is known for, the constant bumping, pushing, grabbing, niggling.

Many international opponents don't like it, but it's what you'd expect from countries where the two rugby codes and Aussie rules football are kings.

Those factors have come to the fore with this current Boomers team, which has so far swept its way through the FIBA Asia Cup and the first two games of FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.

Then, of course, there is the incredible offensive execution that has become an absolute trademark of the Boomers under Lemanis after so many inconsistent tournaments at that end of the floor under his predecessors.

"That group has just been an absolute joy and inspiration to work with, the way that they play for the singlet and play for each other is just fun to be around," Lemanis said.

"Our spirit and ability to maintain a group together over this past period of time and their willingness to play for one another, there's something special when those guys pull on the green and gold and go about their business."

Contrary to some public opinion, the Boomers will need to go about their business well to beat the Philippines on 22 February. Gilas Pilipinas' track record tells us that loud and clear.

At global tournaments since 2014 they have lost to France by nine, New Zealand by nine, Puerto Rico by four, Argentina by four, Greece by 12 and Croatia by three.

Those results, against a number of teams of a similar standing to Australia with our full-strength team, shows the Philippines are more than capable of an upset.

Most of the key pieces from their previous near-successes are in place for their trip to Melbourne, including former NBA big man Andray Blatche and dynamic point guard Jayson Castro, who requires a team focus to keep him out of the lane.


There is also a quality support crew with the likes of the unselfish Gabe Norwood, shooter Matthew Wright and the athletic Japeth Aguilar.

Those players have been around, they understand international basketball and how to play against the world's top teams, and they, like their hoops-mad fan base, are intent on remaining undefeated in Group B.

"The Philippines, basketball is their number one sport," Lemanis said. "They've got good athletic guys, skilled, they know how to play, they're practising now, we’re not. They're playing lead-in games, we're not, there's a lot of factors in their favour."

What's in the Boomers favour is they are performing at a world-class level. In the Final of the Asia Cup they knocked off Iran by 23.

The previous year in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, pretty much the same Iranian team lost to Greece by 25.

These Aussies' level of intensity and physicality, their high-IQ disruptive defence and their expertise at turning stops into easy scores makes them a challenge for any opponent.

Gilas are an unpredictable and athletic team that can put points on the board in a mad rush if the defence slips even a little.

I think they're unlikely to receive such a gift from this 12-deep Boomers team, so let's see if the Philippines can maintain the rage for 40 minutes on the road.

My money says they'll provide a very strong challenge at times, but ultimately, as they did against Japan, the Aussies will wear their opposition down and record another impressive win.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.

Paulo Kennedy

Paulo Kennedy

Paulo has joined our team of columnists with a weekly column called 'The View from Downunder', where he looks at pertinent issues in the world of basketball from an Oceania perspective, perhaps different to the predominant points of view from columnists in North America and Europe.