Blatche looks back at Gilas career, 'energetic' Filipino fans
MANILA, Philippines — A decade ago, former Gilas naturalized player Andray Blatche had the thrilling ride of his basketball career when he first played for the Philippine national squad during the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Seville, Spain.Then a 28-year-old power forward fresh out of the Brooklyn Nets, the 6-foot-11 Blatche recalled how he and the rest of the national squad did "some of the most unheard of" moments as they battled the likes of world powerhouse basketball squads like Argentina, Croatia, Puerto Rico and Greece."Honestly, out of all the years I played basketball, what we [were] doing were some of the most unheard of and amazing things I've seen in my whole career. The Philippines, playing in the World Cup in my first year," Blatche said during a recent guest appearance at former NBA champion Dwight Howard's podcast Above the Rim."Imagine me, it's me, and all Filipino guys, just playing with heart, playing against Greece, Italy, everybody. And we're taking everybody to the wire," he added.The 2014 FIBA edition saw the Philippines give world-class national squads like Croatia, Greece, which then had a budding forward by the name of Giannis Antetokoumpo, and Argentina, a tough fight before eventually folding up during the group stage match.The Filipinos lost by just three points to the Croatians in overtime, bowed to the Greeks by 12, led during the opening period versus the Argentines, before folding up to lose, 85-81. Gilas also lost to JJ Barea and the Puerto Rican national squad by just four points.Gabe Norwood, the athletic Filipino-American defensive wizard even had a memorable moment in Seville after posterizing Argentina's star big man Luis Scola in the game.Gilas Pilipinas eventually closed its World Cup experience with a gutsy 81-79 overtime victory over Senegal, to mark the country's first victory in the tournament since the country defeated Australia and Central African Republic when the tournament was still known as the World Championship in 1974 in Puerto Rico.Blatche, who just turned 38 last August 22, went on to average 21.2 points, 13.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game in the FIBA World Cup in 2014.He said playing in front a Filipino-dominated crowd even in foreign arenas offered a "completely different" atmosphere."[The atmosphere is] completely different. Way more energetic. All the games I played, I only came out the game probably like once or twice for like 30 seconds or a minute. And I wasn't drained because it was so much adrenaline going through in my body from the fans," recounted the 49th pick overall of the Washington Wizards in the 2005 NBA Draft."I don't care where we went to go play... it was in Kazakhstan, the whole arena was all Filipinos. Everywhere you go, Filipinos."Howard can't help but agree with Blatche, noting how "beautiful" it was to play for your country, and how he personally experienced the warmth of Filipino fans when he played for the Strong Group Athletics last January in the Dubai International Basketball Championship in the United Arab Emirates."Obviously, you are from America and you represent the United States but I don't think people understand the pride you get of playing for a country. When you play for a team, it's one thing, but now you got this whole country, everybody is tuned in to watch you play," said Howard, part of Team USA known as the "Redeem Team" that had the likes of the late Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, who regained the American pride by winning the Olympic men's basketball gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "They want to see the whole country win. I had a chance to play for the Filipino team and that was the most, it was just amazing. That was so beautiful," added the 38-year-old Howard, who won his only NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2020 season.Blatche went on to play also for the Tab Baldwin-coached Gilas during the 2015 FIBA Asia Cup, helping the national squad to a silver medal finish. He returned to Gilas during the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila, where the team fell short after bowing to the Tony Parker-led France and New Zealand.Blatche returned with much aplomb in 2017, helping the Philippines dominate the opposition en route to winning the 2017 SEABA men's championships before a jampacked crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.Blatche reinforced the country again in the 2019 FIBA World Cup under coach Yeng Guiao, but Gilas lost big margins against Italy (62-108) and Serbia (67-126), dropped a narrow 81-84 decision to Angola, before closing the tournament with a pair of losses to Tunisia, 67-86 and Iran, 75-95 to finish dead last in the 32-team field.