Gilas Pilipinas’ triumph sourgrapes a crying Kiwi

IT was indeed a historic and momentous triumph posted by Gilas Pilipinas over previous tormentor, the New Zealand Tall Blacks. But wait, amidst the euphoric celebration of the entire nation after eight years. A sour losing Kiwi cries foul as he brought his disbelief and frustration to his social media account hours after the match.

Even after Gilas pulled a convincing 93-89 victory over the highly fancied Tall Blacks, top scorer and former NBA player Corey Webster, who led the visitors with 25 points, five assist and a rebound. Still not convince of the outcome of the game, took his rant on social media, saying that allegedly the referees helped Gilas win the game, as if, he had a presumption that Gilas cheated.

In his Instagram post, he commentd, “ Had to try and beat the refs on this one too! You know how it is when that home cooking.” After posting these, the 35-year old, shooting guard playing for the Perth Wildcats in Australia’s NBL, deleted the said post after receiving numerous criticism and bashing from Gilas supporters.

These kind of remarks, doesn’t have have in the spirit of fair play, camaraderie , healthy competition and sportsmanships throughout any sporting event.

Webster’s post, was a complete contradiction of what he said during the post game interview, “It’s tough team, they got some great players, they stepped up and made shots at the end of the game tonight”.

I read in one article, Samahan ng Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) hierarchy is readying to file a complaint against Webster before the FIBA board to take action or a disciplinary sanction of the latter’s unsportsmanlike comment. From me to SBP, just do it.

So much so for that crying Kiwi. let’s not take away the hard-earned victory our players have work for. Since 2016 during Rio Olympics OQT, New Zealand had been the master and conqueror of Gilas not until last Friday night, wherein legion of supporters packed the Mall of Asia Arena up to rafters and cheered on our players providing morale support .

And they were not disappointed, as the nationals showed character down the stretch, even behind the Tall Blacks’ rain of treys that erased Gilas’ seven-point lead to reduce to two, 91-89 with less than 20 seconds left in the game. As expected Justine Brownlee, played the heroes role carrying Gilas on his shoulder, with two-pressure packed free-throws with 11 seconds to go.

In the return play, the Kiwis, who went 18 of 35 from the arc, made one final charge, as Webster launch a desperate three-pointer, but missed, before 7-3 Kai Sotto made a safety tap that fell in to the hands of Brownlee, who wasted the remaining time, sending the crowd in frenzy.

For Gilas coach Tim Cone, he attributed his wards’ historic win to their big fighting heart and sheer fashion believing they could do it and it’s not all about money or anything in return. “ I’ll be honest, they are not making money doing this. They come here basically, its a small little portion of the salaries they make in their home teams with what they are making here. They are coming in here with their hearts,patriotism more than their pockets,”

Gilas (3-0) has the chance to sweep Group B second window qualification should it hurdle Hong Kong going into today’s matchup to be played anew at the Mall of Asia. And win, the nationals get an outright qualifying slot in next year’s FIBA Asia Cup to be hosted by Saudi Arabia. Gilas has twice beaten Hongkobites during first phase of the eliminations.