Moral victories don’t get chalked up in win columns. There are no moral gold medals after grueling title losses and no moral anthems play when one stands on a moral podium (moral high ground, perhaps?)
That was basically agreed on after Gilas Pilipinas finished its stint in the 2014 Fiba World Cup with a lone victory against Senegal in the group stage. It was a moment to savor, yes, especially since the World Cup came at the heels of the 2013 Fiba Asia championship, when the country swooned over the national squad following a dramatic semifinal victory over continental bully South Korea.
Critics and supporters of Gilas Pilipinas found something to shake hands on, in the wake of a disastrous campaign in the 2014 Asian Games, where the country etched into the record books its worst finish in men’s basketball in the quadrennial event. No more rock-the-arena standing ovations for non-tangible wins for the national team.
It was time to measure the Gilas Pilipinas program on actual wins and losses—you know, the kind that actually reflects on the scoreboard.
So when the applause crescendoed over the latest near-win against China’s newest basketball Great Wall, it was both a pleasant and puzzling surprise.
Especially since, well, this also happened on the same night:
About an hour or so after Paul Lee’s triple, loaded with intent to blow away 44 years of often humiliating defeats to the Chinese in the Asian Games, clanged at the rim to tack years 45 to 48 on that aforementioned trivia, Hidilyn Diaz moved closer to the weightlifting gold medal in the 53-kg women’s division.
There were some tense moments before she got there.
Smiling through her lifts as if the barbells were empty props in a photo shoot, Diaz was down a kilo after the snatch event to Turkmenistan’s Kristina Shermetova. That’s when Team Diaz went for a little gamesmanship, upping the ante at Jakarta International Expo Hall A in the clean and jerk by having her leapfrog past Shermetova right away.
“We knew that the clean and jerk is Hidilyn’s event,” coach Tony Agustin told journalists in Jakarta. “That’s why we had her (Diaz) attempt 115 after Shermitova lifted 113.”
Diaz had done 115 in practice so she was “confident I could do it.”
Meanwhile, at Gelora Bung Karno’s Basketball Hall, moments before that Lee triple, the Philippines was leading by three, 78-75, under the final two minutes and was running a 2-on-1 that looked routine, except the 1 in that equation, falling back to defend against getting sucked into a potentially fatal five-point quicksand, was Zhou Qi, who had swatted about 1,422 Filipino shots by that time.
So it was easy to understand why Poy Erram was a bit unnerved with what looked like a kindergarten short stab. He missed. The Great Wall, its foundations rocked by a squad that was a head shorter in almost every position, pounced on the opportunity to stop the tremors. Wang Zhilin dropped in a layup to put China within one. Quickly on the other end, Stanley Pringle countered with a soft lofting looper that caromed off the glass and teasingly bounced on the rim before falling. 80-77.
That took away a lot from Pringle, the hero against Kazakhstan, though. Fagged, he resorted to a foul to buy him some time to catch his breath. That put Zhou on the stripe and newly anointed hoop savior Jordan Clarkson, who was rested for two minutes because of cramps, back on the floor. Clarkson had a hypothermic start to the game but went from thawed to sizzling hot in the third to spark a Philippines climb out of double-digit holes. The effort, however, stiffened his freshly jet-lagged muscles and he had to be rested late in the fourth.
Anyway, Zhou split and the Philippines was up just 2. Pringle tried to James Harden his way to a drive and draw but turned the ball over on a wild pass. Zhao Rui saw an open lane, wasn’t unnerved at all at seeing Erram rise to challenge him and tied the game with a tough layup. 80-80, 46 ticks remaining.
Clarkson pulled up early in the shotclock, probably shooting for a 2-in-1 possession edge, missed and then fouled a driving Zhao. Two free throws for China, 82-80, Great Wall. With no timeouts remaining, Paul Lee dribbled down the court and took the triple.
One last time, the Philippines faithful in the gym and the millions who watched at home held their breath. (Context: In the 2014 Fiba Asia Cup, Lee sank three free throws after drawing a foul on a three-point attempt to power Gilas Pilipinas past China by a point. More recently, in the game, Lee buried a clutch triple with the shotclock burning out to help spark the Philippines comeback).
The shot missed, everyone exhaled a sigh and the Philippines came up short.
“I don’t consider this a loss,” said national coach Yeng Guiao, who had just two weeks to whip up a competitive squad after much dilly-dallying by the SBP and only five days to acclimatize Clarkson to his system after much dilly-dallying by the NBA. His wards were supposed to be finger snacks for the Chinese in Jakarta. “It was a gallant stand if ever I saw one. What more can I ask for? They played their hearts out, we had a chance to win and we just didn’t get the breaks.”
Perhaps all the things beyond Guiao’s control and the ease by which he assembled a squad that did not back down until skidding on excess adrenaline in the end had people cheering the defeat, the moral victory. But it was a perfect night for the Philippines to suffer a heartbreaking basketball loss. Because back at Jakarta International Expo Hall A, Team Philippines watched as Shermetova, buckled on Diaz’s double dare and failed to lift 115kg.
“I knew I won when I saw my coaches jumping,” said Diaz.
It was perfect not in an emotional crutch sort of way like in 2002 in Busan, when Mikee Cojuangco rode to the equestrian gold to apply ointment on a burned Philippine delegation mourning a basketball debacle. Lee Sang Min drained a triple at the buzzer to send Korea into the Finals and the Philippines into a bronze-medal duel with an eager Kazakhstan squad. A gloomy Philippines squad blew that one in the stretch, finishing out of the podium, and Cojuangco’s gold helped ease the pain.
Hidilyn’s gold was not the same. It was perfect because it came when the applause was loudest for Gilas Pilipinas. It provided a different, more palpable high. It added a tinge of roar to the cheers. Because it was a victory you could grasp, or, as is tradition in these Games, clamp on in between your teeth.
Yeng Guiao’s “not a loss” resonated in every basketball fan as the truth. But it wasn’t a win too. It won’t be until we hurdle South Korea in yet another KO duel and chart a course to the Final, where we could meet China again. It was a moral victory whose only tangible statistic was the millions of Filipinos the near-win did proud. And we should be proud. This wasn’t all guts, no glory because sometimes, the glory is in the guts.
But Yeng Guiao’s “not a loss” couldn’t have happened on a better night, too. Because it allowed us to frame “not a loss” in a manner grounded in reality. Because Hidilyn Diaz carried the same weight Gilas Pilipinas did. Millions of Filipinos.
“It was a gold Filipinos were dreaming of,” she said. “In the Olympics, nobody expected me to win. But here, everyone expected me to win.”
The pressure was hers, too, to carry. But aside from the hopes of millions of Filipinos, Hidilyn Diaz also lifted tangible numbers. 207 kilos. 115 in clean and jerk, 92 in snatch. And, of course, the most important number of all here in the Asian Games, where Gilas Pilipinas’ loudly cheered what-could’ve-been and an Olympic heroine’s inspiring what-should-be collided to create one of the country’s finest Asiad moments.
1 gold.
Sportswriter. Couch Potato. Dad. 