Gilas Pilipinas failed to avoid a winless campaign in the FIBA World Cup after suffering a 95-75 loss to Tokyo Olympics-bound Iran Sunday night at the Wukesong Sport Arena in Beijing, China.
The Filipino cagers couldn’t sustain a hot start from three-point country as the Iranians imposed their will on their way to securing a place in the Olympics as the World Cup’s best-ranked Asian team.
Iran got help from Nigeria after defeating host China, 86-73, in their classification round match in Guangzhou.
Both teams had identical 2-3 records but it was Iran which earned a direct slot to Tokyo by virtue of a higher point differential over the Chinese cagers.
Seven-foot-two center Hamed Haddadi provided headaches for Gilas like in the past, finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds while another veteran Samad Nikkah Bahrami added 17.
While the Iranians whoop it up at center court immediately after the final buzzer, Gilas was left sulking at one final defeat to wrap up a nightmarish eight days in Foshan and Beijing.
Coach Yeng Guiao’s team began its struggles with blowout defeats to Italy and Serbia by a combined margin of 105 points before failing to protect a lead late in regulation to suffer an 84-81 overtime loss in Angola.
The woes continued in the Chinese capital, beginning with Friday’s 86-67 setback to Tunisia.
By going empty-handed, Gilas was denied of an opportunity to gain a slot in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament by virtue of being one of the best 16 teams that failed to gain an outright berth to the Tokyo Games.
Gilas’ only chance to play in the OQT is if it ends up as one of the two best-ranked teams in Asia once the FIBA World Rankings are released after the World Cup.
But the big concern at this point is how the officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and major stakeholders like the PBA can pick up the pieces moving forward.
Guiao had said during the first round that he will answer for everything once the team returns to Manila.
Robert Bolick capped off his impressive stint in the World Cup with 15 points while Andray Blatche scored 12 points in what could possibly be his last game as Gilas naturalized player.
Blatche was tossed with 5:23 left in the fourth after receiving a technical foul.
