Editor's note: To mark 10 years of the Gilas Pilipinas program, ESPN5.com will be publishing a "Gilas series" with one article a day for the next 11 days. The following is a look back at the Gilas campaign in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
On this day two years ago, a hastily-assembled Gilas Pilipinas team boarded a flight to Jakarta with one mission: win the Philippines' first Asian Games gold medal in 56 years. It would be the beginning of a ride to remember.
That the Philippines was even sending a men's basketball team to the quadrennial meet was already a small victory in itself. The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas initially announced that they weren't - part of the fallout from the July brawl with Australia. But luckily for local fans the organization reversed course after a few days.
There was a lot going against Gilas. The aftermath of the brawl saw multiple suspensions levied against players and coaches alike. As such, not a single player on the most recent Gilas roster would make the team. There would also be a new coach: the egalitarian Yeng Guiao, who had just a few weeks to pick his players and sneak in a few practice sessions.
'Gilastopainters'
Faced with this situation, Guiao did what any coach worth his salt would do: he chose players who weren't necessarily the best available, but were familiar with his system. And thus was born the team that came to be known as the Gilastopainters.
Guiao had coached the Rain or Shine Elastopainters to two PBA titles before jumping to NLEX in late 2016. Six of the 12 players on the roster had played for him on one or both of those champion teams: Gabe Norwood, Chris Tiu, Paul Lee, Beau Belga, Raymond Almazan, and Maverick Ahanmisi. A seventh Elasto Painter, who missed playing for Guiao by just days, was also in the lineup in James Yap.
The SBP took advantage of the laxer eligibility rules of the Asian Games basketball tournament and added a pair of quality Fil-foreigners in explosive guard Stanley Pringle and six-foot-eight workhorse Christian Standhardinger. Asi Taulava, another player already familiar with Guiao's coaching style, also made the cut, as did talented young big man Poy Erram.
That made 11. The final slot would depend not on the SBP or the Asian Games organizers, but rather on the National Basketball Association, which was faced with the decision of whether to allow Jordan Clarkson to join the festivities. The NBA had initially released a statement effectively saying that the Asian Games was not a FIBA tournament and thus was not an event that its players could join.
The team had actually left Manila on the 14th not knowing if Clarkson would be cleared to play, but the SBP took a calculated risk and tossed his name into the roster submitted to organizers anyway. The following day, August 15, brought good news: it was eventually brought to the NBA's attention that Zhou Qi, then a Houston Rockets benchwarmer, was in China's roster, so the league relented and granted a one-time exemption for Clarkson and other NBA players to suit up.
With that, TNT's Don Trollano was relegated to the reserve list but still joined the team in Jakarta, where over the next couple of weeks a dramatic basketball journey would unfold.
Meeting up in Jakarta
Clarkson was already in, but exactly when he could join his team was another matter. The NBA's flip-flopping resulted in the then-Cleveland Cavaliers guard not being able to book a flight right away. An initial plan of meeting up with the team in Manila where they could all fly out to Jakarta was scrapped; Clarkson instead would just go straight to the Indonesian capital on his own.
The men's basketball tournament opened on August 16, two days before the Games' opening ceremony. Gilas was grouped with unpredictable Kazakhstan and defending champion China in the preliminary round, with the top two advancing to the crossover quarterfinals.
The Kazakhs would be the first to test the mettle of the new-look Gilas team, as both teams were set to clash in an early 10AM game on the 16th. Clarkson's flight was scheduled to arrive at roughly the same time at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which was around 45 minutes away from the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex.
Clarkson walked into the stadium late in the third period to cheers from the predominantly Filipino crowd. He didn't suit up anymore, and he wasn't really needed: his new teammates, led by Pringle's 18 points, were putting the finishing touches on a 96-59 rout.
"The coaching staff did a great job with the scouting report and the team's preparation. We were able to disrupt (Kazakhstan's) offense, and we were able to challenge their shots," was the quote this writer got from Guiao after the game.
With powerhouse China coming up in five days, Guiao didn't want to waste any time integrating Clarkson into his system. He scheduled a practice just six hours after the Kazakhstan game. Despite the jet lag, Clarkson went all out in practice and quickly endeared himself to his new coach, who had this to say:
"You can see he's very quick, you can see his skills are very refined and fine-tuned. That's an indication of high intelligence and high IQ, but of course, you want it to be natural, you want it to be automatic, you want that to be ingrained in him even under pressure against China. We have four days to do that and I'm very confident that he will be a big help in our game against China."
Two days later, Clarkson led the Philippine delegation into the massive Gelora Bung Karno Stadium as its flag bearer. By this time, he had already practiced three times with Gilas as they geared up for that colossal showdown with China on the 21st. By this time, too, the game had become one of the most anticipated events in Jakarta, and it would not disappoint.
'Paul Lee for the win...'
The Gilas-China game on August 21 so lived up to its hype that this writer penned a whole feature about it, covering pre-game to post-game. It started with the bus ride to the venue, where I overheard a writer from Hong Kong asking a Chinese writer about his thoughts on facing the Philippines. I was positioned just behind them in the standing-room-only shuttle ride, and I sensed the Chinese writer hesitate a bit before replying, "Well, they have Clarkson. We'll see."
That was all you needed to know about the level of hype the game had spawned. Almost everyone on the bus disembarked at the basketball venue, which was filling up fast. Word on the street was that scalpers had made a killing. Even players from other teams left their quarters to cram themselves into the venue.
The game itself was a classic, going down to the final shot. Privately, the coaching staff had been concerned about the humidity and Clarkson's stamina. But they also knew that Pringle, whom the Chinese had never played against, would be a handful for the opposing guards.
They were right on both counts. Clarkson had to be subbed out early in the fourth period due to cramps, while Pringle scored 14 points on a variety of shots. China took an early 27-15 lead in the first half, but Clarkson, Pringle, Standhardinger and Lee willed the Filipino back into the game. With less than a minute left on the clock, the scoreboard read 80-80. China ball.
Clarkson tried to go for a steal and successfully tapped the ball away from Chinese guard Zhao Rui, but a referee blew his whistle. Rui coolly sank two free throws to give China an 82-80 lead with 13.2 seconds left.
China shadowed Clarkson, who had already dropped 28 on them, on the last possession, forcing Gilas to look to another player to take the big shot. Lee answered the call, and he calmly brought the ball up before launching a long triple, the kind he usually takes and makes in the PBA. The shot, though, was a little to the left, and China escaped with a tight two-point win.
It was a gut-wrenching loss, but there was little time to grieve. The defeat meant the Philippines would finish second in their group and send them on a quarterfinal collision course with a familiar foe.
No podium finish
Aside from pride and bragging rights, there was something bigger at stake in the China game: the winner would have an easier path to the medal rounds. With the loss, Gilas had to get through old nemesis South Korea for a semifinal slot, while China only had to deal with hosts Indonesia.
The game, held on August 27, was close for 32 minutes before the Koreans once again turned to their three-point shooting to pull away for a 91-82 win. Former PBA import Ricardo Ratliffe also did some damage, pouring in 30 points and grabbing 15 boards. Clarkson had 25 and Standhardinger 16, but it wasn't enough. Gilas was officially knocked out of medal contention and could finish no higher than fifth.
That's exactly what they did as they won their final two classification games by an average of 43.5 points, drubbing eight-man Japan, 118-80, in the first classification game before brushing aside overmatched Syria, 104-55, in the battle for fifth place.
In his final game in Jakarta, Clarkson put up 29 points in just 24 minutes. After the final buzzer, he walked to center court, grabbed a microphone, and thanked all the Filipino fans. He ended the competition with averages of 26.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.0 steal in four games.
The Philippines had fallen short of their medal goal, but it was a memorable campaign nonetheless. Guiao later said that if only Clarkson had joined the team earlier, they would have had a chance at the gold. He noted that Clarkson was starting to play very well with his teammates over their last two games as he had finally gotten his legs under him. An extra week in the time zone, Guiao said, would have made a big difference.
As for the Guiao himself, bigger things were awaiting him back home. In the middle of the tournament, SBP president Al Panlilio had appointed him coach of Gilas for the remaining 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers windows. That would turn out be a whole new adventure.
