#Blog 1

Fiba Basketball World Cup Recap

Someone had just stolen the leather, sparking a three- in-one fast break. In the blink of an eye, the thief- someone named "William" and wearing number 7- sped past the center line, but backpedaling in front of him was grizzled veteran Pablo Prigioni of the New York Knicks. Sprinting ahead on the right was number four," Alapag" on his back, who, at just 5'7" or so, clearly shouldn't be there, while closing in on the basket coming in on the left was someone wearing number ten, who looked like US President Barack Obama before all the white hair, but famed NBA rim protector Luis Scola of the Indiana Pacers was also there covering the lanes. Or so he thought. William, with a little counter spin, bounced the ball exactly to where the streaking presidential ringer would be. Number ten, a guy named "Norwood," caught the pass and, in one graceful stride, soared over the outstretched arms of Scola and viciously stuffed the ball into the hoop with his right hand. It was a highlight facial worthy of any basketball fans top ten list and it was a shot that rang throughout the entire basketball universe.

Ketchup Please, Luis

"Who are these guys?" One of the befuddled Argentinean ballers asked aloud heading for the dugout at halftime. After all, Argentina is the third strongest basketball county in the world,a traditional world basketball power, a past world champion,perennial Olympic medal contender and the all-time winning squad in South America, the national team bannered by NBA veterans Andres Nocioni, Prigioni and Scola. The core of those three,as well as the sturdy Walter Hermann and sweet-shooting big man Leo Gutierrez, were part of the country's golden era team that dominated the world basketball scene in the 2000s, one of just a handful to beat an all-NBA USA selection in a major international competition so far. With the addition of young, speedy players, the team had both experience and youth.

Going up against a low ranked team from Asia that has an average height of just 6'3" should end in a 20 point blowout, at least. No one really takes an Asian challenge seriously, not even from the much taller China or Iran and, for generations, no team from Asia, let alone Southeast Asia, has shown they have what it takes to play competitively on the big stage, either at FIBA Worlds or the Olympics. Matches against Asian squads are mostly treated by basketball powers as welcome respites between big games, using them to rest their guns and try out new combinations. But to everyone's surprised, the mighty Argentina were up by just five points at the half,thanks mainly to a a last second three point fluke.

They had trailed by as much as ten points in the first quarter,managing to catch up in the second,gain some separation in the third,but we're then besieged anew in the fourth. They led by just a hairline,82-91, with two minutes left in the game, and had to pull out all the stops to finally beat those little guys from Asia by four measly markers,85-81.

Hello World

With Grave Norwood's rim- shuddering poster slams as it's calling card,the Philippines said hello again to the world basketball at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain last September. They had been to the world Cup bronze in 1954, but that was ancient history. The national team last traded baskets with the hoops elite in 1987, but only because it was the host country and, in fact, had lost all of its eight games, while it did manage to actually qualify in 1986, but unfortunately only for the sport EDSA People Power Revolution was staged. The nationals of the era under coach Ron Jacobs, with Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim and naturalized hotspot chip England, Jeff Moore and Dennis Still, might have fared better than those from the decade before, but we'll never know.

So far Friends, My simple story About Basketball World Cup. Look out for my next story.