September 3, 2010 | Posted by benjie
As reported, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Board of Governors meeting was rescheduled to September 15 in Bangkok, Thailand. Among other things to be discussed is the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ (SBP) request for the inclusion of the three PBA players in the national pool. The Asian Games in Guangzhou, China is less than three months away and the national federation has to make crucial decisions.
Based on the performances in the recent tournaments participated by the national team, it obviously needs some key players to fill in some missing pieces of the puzzle. By the way, RP team finished fourth among seven teams in the 32nd William Jones Cup in Taipei last July and fourth as well in the FIBA-Asia Stankovic Cup in Beirut last month. Continue Reading »
Categories: FIBA-Asia Teams Updates | 
Tags: Asi Taulava, Asia, Beirut, China, Guangzhou, Guangzhou China, James Yap, Kelly Williams, PBA, Philippine Basketball Association, Sonny Barrios, Taipei | 
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September 3, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Photo Courtesy: FIBA.com
Oh, I missed a couple of days in updating how the Asian teams fare in this world tourney. By now, we have known the cast for the Last 16. Unfortunately, only China survived and managed to make it to the next round. In the preliminaries, Iran won only once, against Tunisia. Like Iran, Lebanon has only a win to show and that is at the expense of Steve Nash-less Canada. Jordan bids this tournament goodbye without a win. But the fact that it’s among the world’s elite 24 is already a huge feat considering 16 Asian teams scrambled for four slots in this once-in-four years prestigious tournament.
Categories: FIBA-World Championship | Tags: Canada, China, Steven Nash | No Comments »
August 31, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Photo Courtesy: FIBA.com
Iran and Jordan were the only Asian teams that played on the third day of this 24-nation championship. Iran finally captured their first victory with a 71-58 thrashing of Tunisia. The Iranians, however, cannot celebrate this victory as they are scheduled to meet Team USA on their next game on September 1. Jordan, on the other hand, remained winless with an embarrassing 69-112 defeat to Serbia.
Categories: FIBA-World Championship | Tags: FIBA, Serbia, Tunisia | No Comments »
August 31, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Photo Courtesy: NYSportsJournalism.com
Team USA escaped a nail-biting 70-68 thriller over reigning FIBA-Americas champion Brazil in the ongoing preliminaries of the 2010 FIBA-World Champiosnhip in Turkey. It was a very tough night for the Americans that the game went through the last tick of the clock. Early on, the Brazilians taught the Americans neat basketball fundamentals. But Team USA, the reigning Olympic champions, hanged tough through the endgame.
As I mentioned in my post dated August 14, the Americans has to go through an eye of a needle to reach the final four of this world championship. It was the first game in this tournament that they were pushed to the limit. And this won’t be their last either. I believe there are five more teams that are capable of winning over them such as Puerto Rico, Argentina, Spain, Serbia and Greece. The Americans were just lucky enough to survive its first acid test.
Categories: FIBA-World Championship | Tags: 2010 FIBA-World Championship, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Spain, Team USA, Turkey | No Comments »
August 30, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Photo Courtesy: FIBA.com
On the second day of the tournament, China defeated last year’s FIBA-Africa finalist Cote d’Ivoire, 83-73. The three other Asian teams Iran, Jordan and Lebanon succumbed to their respective opponents. Iran dropped to Croatia, 54-75. Jordan, likewise, bowed to Angola 65-79. Angola was formerly handled by Mario Palma, now the head coach of Jordan. A day after upsetting Canada, Lebanon was crushed by France, 59-86 .
Categories: FIBA-World Championship | Tags: Canada, China, France, Mario Palma | No Comments »
August 29, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Photo courtesy: FIBA.com
I’d like to keep abreast of how the Asian teams fare in the ongoing FIBA-World Championship in Turkey. Four out of twenty four entries come from Asia namely Iran, China, Jordan and Lebanon. The performances of the Asian teams in this competition are crucial to their request to add one more slot for Asia in the 12-team 2012 London Olympics.
On the first day of the tournament, Jordan, China and Iran ended up losing their opening matches against Australia, Greece and Brazil respectively. Jordan was narrowly defeated by Australia,75-76; China bowed to medal contender Greece, 81-89; Iran was crushed by highly fancied Brazil 65-81. Lebanon saved the day for the Asians as it upset 2009 FIBA-Americas 4th placer Canada, 81-71.
Categories: FIBA-World Championship | Tags: 2010 FIBA-World Championship, Asia, Brazil, Canada, China, Greece, Turkey | 1 Comment »
August 17, 2010 | Posted by benjie
3rd FIBA-Asia Stankovic Cup final rankings
Date: August 7-15, 2010
Host nation: Lebanon
Rank Team
1 Lebanon
2 Japan
3 Qatar
4 Philippines
5 Jordan
6 Iran
7 Chinese-Taipei
8 Kazakhstan
9 Iraq
10 Syria
Categories: FIBA-Asia Teams Updates | Tags: 2010 FIBA-Asia Stankovic Cup, 2010 Stankovic Cup, 3rd FIBA-Asia Stankovic Cup, 3rd Stankovic Cup, Borislav Stankovic Cup, FIBA-Asia Stankovic Cup, Japan, Lebanon, Philippines, Stankovic Cup | No Comments »
August 14, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Photo Courtesy: Highschoolhoop.com
The 2010 FIBA-World Championship starts on the 28th of August in Turkey and this early I could see Team USA heading for another shameful exit. It’s not because I’m subjective but realistically speaking, the current US squad is not at par with the best teams out there at this point in time. Gone are the days when the Americans yawned watching the game clock ticking for the final score.
Before I go through, let’s take a quick look at how Team USA fared last decade in major international competitions. By the way, NBA players comprised all these teams.
Tournament Final Ranking
2000 Olympics 1st
2002 FIBA-World Championship 6th
2004 Olympics 3rd
2006 FIBA-World Championship 3rd
2008 Olympics 1st
Continue Reading »
Categories: FIBA-World Championship | Tags: 2010 FIBA-World Championship, Brazil, Carmelo Anthony, France, Greece, Lithuania, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Spain, Team USA, Turkey | 1 Comment »
July 21, 2010 | Posted by benjie
32nd Jones Cup final rankings
Date: July 14-20, 2010
Host: Chinese-Taipei
Rank Team
1 I.R. Iran National Team
2 Lebanon National Team
3 Japan National Team
4 Philippines National Team
5 Chinese-Taipei National Team
6 Chinese-Taipei University All-Stars
7 Townsville Crocodiles (Australia)
Categories: William Jones Cup | Tags: 2010 William Jones Cup, 32nd Jones Cup, Australia, Japan, Jones Cup, Jones Cup final rankings, Philippines, Townsville Crocodiles | No Comments »
July 21, 2010 | Posted by benjie
Six grueling games in seven days of intense competition is over in Taipei. Here are more of my thoughts in the annual tournament in honor of Renato William Jones, one of the pillars of FIBA: Continue Reading »
Categories: William Jones Cup | Tags: 32nd William Jones Cup, China, Chinese - Taipei, Ghaleb Reda, Japan, Jones Cup, JORDAN, Marcio Lassiter, Philippines, Rajko Toroman, Renato William Jones, Taipei | No Comments »
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