2014 Philippine FIBA Basketball World Cup team

The Philippines men's national basketball team played at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in Spain. The 24-team tournament began on August 30, and the winner automatically qualifies for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[1] The Philippines qualified for the World Cup by virtue of the silver medal won by their 2013 FIBA Asia Championship squad.^[2] The Filipinos were considered as an underdog in the tournament, but shocked and impressed the whole world including FIBA officials because of their courage, passion and enthusiasm that was shown by the squad. Team Philippines were eliminated on the preliminary round with a 1-4 standing, but almost of all their losses were close games and was won by a small margin.^[3] This was the first time in 40 years since the Philippine national squad made an appearance and won a game in the World Cup.^[4]

FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann and other officials of the organization cheered for the team and said that they will be back on the next World Cup with no doubt.^[5]

Roster

On January 31, 2014, a Yahoo! article reported that the Philippines want JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche to be naturalized as a Filipino for them to be able to represent the country in the upcoming World Cup.^[6]

Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes confirmed the development. Antipolo representative Robbie Puno filed House Bills 3784 and 3783, the naturalization bills of JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche.^[7] On June 11, 2014, Blatche officially became a Filipino citizen despite of being born on New York, President Benigno Aquino III signed a law declaring Blatche as a Filipino citizen. Blatche will play for the national squad as a naturalized player, there is a requirement that there should be only one naturalized player that can play as a national team member of any country.^[8]

Greg Slaughter, Jared Dillinger, Marcio Lassiter and Paul Lee were invited to join the training pool of the national squad and to be part of the 18-man pool, Lassiter and Slaughter expressed gratitude for the decision but declined the invitation because they think that the 12-man roster that played on the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship are the ones who are deserving to play because they worked hard and helped the team to advance to the World Cup. The 18-man squad was decreased to an 16-man squad but they later on added Jay Washington to the pool, to form an 17-man squad.^[9]

Larry Fonacier backed up at the training pool because of being injury-plagued,^[10] his two-year-old problem. The 17-man squad was decreased to 16 as Chot Reyes announced the 16-man squad.^[11]

On August 18, 2014, the final 12-man roster was announced.^[12]

Philippines men's national basketball team - 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – DOB Ht. Club G 4 Alapag, Jimmy (C) 36 – 30 December 1977 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters G 5 Tenorio, LA 30 – 9 July 1984 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel G 6 Chan, Jeffrei 30 – 11 February 1984 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Rain or Shine Elasto Painters G 7 William, Jayson 28 – 30 June 1986 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters G 8 David, Gary 36 – 13 July 1978 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Meralco Bolts F 9 de Ocampo, Ranidel 32 – 8 December 1981 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters F 10 Norwood, Gabe 29 – 9 February 1985 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Rain or Shine Elasto Painters C 11 Blatche, Andray 28 – 22 August 1986 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Brooklyn Nets C 12 Fajardo, June Mar 24 – 17 November 1989 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) San Miguel Beermen G 13 Lee, Paul 25 – 14 February 1989 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Rain or Shine Elasto Painters F 14 Aguilar, Japeth 27 – 25 January 1987 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel F 15 Pingris, Marc 32 – 16 October 1981 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) San Mig Super Coffee Mixers	Head coach Chot Reyes Assistant coaches Jong Uichico Josh Reyes Norman Black Consultants Tab Baldwin Naxto Lezcano Team manager Butch Antonio Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 30 August 2014

Preliminary round

	Qualified for the final round
	Eliminated

Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Tie
Greece	5	5	0	414	349	+65	10
Croatia	5	3	2	414	398	+16	8	1–0
Argentina	5	3	2	420	371	+49	8	0–1
Senegal	5	2	3	348	399	−51	7
Puerto Rico	5	1	4	388	446	−58	6	1–0
Philippines	5	1	4	383	404	−21	6	0–1

All times are local to Spain, UTC+2.

Croatia

30 August 2014 12:30

Boxscore

Croatia	81–78 (OT)	Philippines
Scoring by quarter: 23–9, 14–22, 20–18, 14–22, Overtime: 10–7
Pts: Bogdanović 26 Rebs: Tomić 11 Asts: Tomić, Šarić 4		Pts: Blatche 28 Rebs: Blatche 12 Asts: Alapag 6

Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Seville Attendance: 3,500 Referees: José Reyes (MEX), Mohammad Al-Amiri (KUW), Fernando Rocha (POR)

Greece

31 August 2014 20:00

Boxscore

Philippines	70–82	Greece
Scoring by quarter: 10–20, 17–17, 18–21, 25–24
Pts: Blatche 21 Rebs: Blatche 14 Asts: Alapag 3		Pts: Printezis 25 Rebs: Bourousis 10 Asts: Papanikolaou 4

Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Seville Attendance: 5,554 Referees: Luigi Lamonica (ITA), Mohammad Al-Amiri (KUW), Stephen Seibel (CAN)

Argentina

1 September 2014 17:30

Boxscore

Argentina	85–81	Philippines
Scoring by quarter: 22–25, 21–13, 28–23, 14–20
Pts: Scola 19 Rebs: Mata 9 Asts: Scola, Campazzo 4		Pts: de Ocampo 18 Rebs: Blatche 15 Asts: Castro, Alapag 2

Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Seville Attendance: 6,071 Referees: Ilija Belošević (SRB), Juan González (ESP), Carlos Julio (ANG)

Puerto Rico

3 September 2014 13:30

Boxscore

Philippines	73–77	Puerto Rico
Scoring by quarter: 25–13, 19–26, 13–22, 16–16
Pts: Blatche 25 Rebs: Blatche 14 Asts: de Ocampo 3		Pts: Barea 30 Rebs: Franklin 9 Asts: Rivera 3

Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Seville Attendance: 4,998 Referees: José Reyes (MEX), Juan González (ESP), Carlos Julio (ANG)

Senegal

4 September 2014 14:00

Boxscore

Senegal	79–81 (OT)	Philippines
Scoring by quarter: 19–13, 5–24, 20–12, 20–15, Overtime: 15–17
Pts: Faye 20 Rebs: Dieng 14 Asts: D'Almeida 13		Pts: Blatche, Alapag 18 Rebs: Blatche 14 Asts: Alapag 4

Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Seville Attendance: 5,132 Referees: Ilija Belošević (SRB), Fernando Rocha (POR), Carlos Julio (ANG)

References

1. Keh, Andrew (August 2, 2014). "Paul George’s Injury Fuels Concerns in N.B.A. Over International Competition". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014.
2. "Gallant Gilas Pilipinas falls to mighty Iran, settles for silver medal in FIBA Asia Championship". interaksyon.com. InterAKTV. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
3. "Philippines at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup - FIBA.com". FIBA.com. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
4. "FIBA: Andray Blatche should be eligible for Asian Games". www.interaksyon.com. Sports5. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
5. "‘We were all cheering for Philippines’: FIBA sec gen Patrick Baumann expects Gilas back on world stage in 2019". InterAksyon.com. Sports5. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
6. Freeman, Eric. "The Philippines wants to naturalize JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche for their national team". ph.sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Sports Philippines. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
7. Lopez, Joshua. "Bills filed to naturalize NBA players JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche for Gilas Pilipinas pool". interaksyon.com. Sports5. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
8. Bonesteel, Matt. "Andray Blatche officially a Filipino citizen despite being American". Washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
9. Dy, Richard. "New boy Jay Washington passes first test as Gilas beats Dragons in friendly". spin.ph. Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
10. "Gilas Pilipinas suffers blow, loses Fonacier from pool". gmanetwork.com. GMA Network.
11. "Gilas Coach Chot Reyes Named 16-Man Pool for FIBA World Cup". philnews.ph. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
12. "Gilas Pilipinas Roster for FIBA World Cup". smartgilasbasketball.com. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.

External links

• 2014 PHL team at FIBA.com