The Pilipinas - Taiwan Twin Jersey connection

As you have seen in the ongoing FIBA Asia Cup, Smart Gilas Pilipinas 2.0 has been sporting a new jersey style similar to other Nike sponsored national teams around the world. Having the same cut and template means that one way or the other, we're going to have the same uniform as another team with a similar colored flag.

Enter their FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinal opponents, the Chinese Taipei National squad, same color, same cut, even the same font. While we're not complaining because those new threads are definitely awesome, we're also glad that we are getting the same technology as the top nations even if it is just jersey wise. One way or the other we are still going to end up with someone looking like us anyway since the colors red and blue are too common in flags. It is a good thing that we have the PHL coat of arms and the middle of the jersey (homage to the Caloy Loyzaga era).

Back in 2009 we had a similar issue with the Taiwan squad, but unlike now, it was still distinct because they had white trims in front and red at the back while we had red in the front and white at the back.

We then ended up changing to red come FIBA Asia 2009.

So, It remains to be seen if the PHL team will have a tertiary color but the recent kits are awesome by themselves. Be it having twins or not.

RP Basketball Charity Event

From Mr. Nardy of IBN/SBP

“pinoy basketball, kakampi ninyo,”

monday october 5 2009, 5pm to 9pm. Benefits of these games will go to the victims of ondoy

1st game: Uaap/ncaa selection vs liga/pbl selection
2nd game: Pba powerade national team vs. Smart gilas national team
tickets prizes: Available on wednesday at the ticketron; araneta center

ringside/patron- p200; lower box– p100; upper a– p50 ; upper b & bleacher– free


call 911-5555

to our basketball fans, players, coaches, etc kindly donate rubber shoes and rubber slippers.

Team Pilipinas' Newest Recruit

Powerade Team Pilipinas, Hurting but still fighting in the midst of the Fiba Asia wars

(Pic from someone who posted it in the interbasket forums, credits to the original owner)

Ok, Normally as a Celtic fan, I'd hate on this guy. But I appreciate this show of class and gesture.


Now as for the Commish wearing the RP Jacket, You know you did a half cooked job. We were given the breaks and Lack of training and fatigue really put us down. You could've pulled them out for the final conference since it was going to be the last tour of duty anyway. I hope you learned your lesson and support smart gilas all the way.

Team Pilipinas Takes On Taipei in Group E

Powerade Team Pilipinas, Pulled out a great defensive game against the koreans last Saturday, limiting them with 18% shooting from the arc. Ha did have a bad game and not even his Jun Pyo esque hairdo was of any help against taulava and penissi. but RP went ice cold on offense as they missed a lot of open threes. Cyrus Baguio did a lot of acrobatic shots that kept the koreans worried but everytime the pinoys make a run, the boys over flowers squad just kept coming back.We finised a 2-1 record and currently on 3rd in group e (Merged Group A & B).



Our next game is against Chinese Taipei. No, they dont have hot shots or MVP valentine in their lineup. The winner of the match gets to face either Jordan or Lebanon in the quarter finals rather than Yi and China. Good news for RP is that Japeth will be back and 100& from the injury he sustained while dunking against sri lanka. Also, a 1 day rest would be beneficial to these guys especially the emotionally exhausted big game James and our injured furious mvp. We still need prayers.


I also hope they wont be confused with the enemy as both RP and Taiwan has the same Uniform design and colors.

RP Beats Japan by 9

(Photo from FIBA Asia Website)


Great win for Powerade Team Pilipinas! Down by 11 yet went to a run in the 3rd quarter to seal the deal against Japan.

These 2 teams have been consistently at each other's throats since the 1994 asiad when The captain Alvin Patrimonio failed to connect in the winning basket. The captain, with the centennials got revenge on the Nihon-jins via an overtime game. The 2002 Asiad, 2007 and 2009 Jones Cup featured the 2 teams coming back in late game runs to win the game by a small margin.

Asi Taulava found the fountain of youth for the RP team, debuting in their new red (alternate?)Jerseys. Same with Sonny Thoss, who made led the team in scoring. Interesting though, Orimo did not enter the game. From our side, Japeth Aguilar didnt even play a single minute. Hopefully he'll be well rested and 100% for tomorrow as they take on Ha and the boys over flowers squad of south korea.

RP Team: Playing Posum?

What transpired over the week seemed to be a shock for the local avid filipino basketball fan. Powerade Team Pilipinas, though not expected to show all and keep intent on winning games in the William Jones cup. We expected to lose games, but not get smacked by Jordan in the opening round or have our 19 point lead vanish at the hands of Japan. Negativity and criticism are rising in local and international hoop forums. But there are signs and flashes of brilliance that make us wonder if the RP Team is really playing possum or not....



There are most times where the team use individual one on one plays and turnovers galore. Basking in dissapointment everytime the opposing team clobbers us by a 10 point lead or so a few minutes within the start of a game, yet we shout and cheer valiantly as the team climbs back to let the enemies' lead wither or even tie the score, using set plays and offensive schemes only to revert back to the NBA style and lose at the end by a few points. Questions like, "why didnt they call a timeout?" or "why didnt they revert to the set plays" boggle out mind. As if in the back of our heads, we are thinking that the team isnt really taking this seriously.

The team who does well in the jones cup does not really guarantee that they'll win big on the suceeding touranments that they will enter. Such an example is the 2007 version wherein Jordan won the jones cup but ended up as only the 5th place in Fiba Asia in tokushima. Kazakhstan, a team which placed way below and 2nd to the last, ended up a notch higher in fiba at 4th place and even made it to the wild card olympic qualifying round. Another example is the 1998 centennial team wherein they won the Jones cup but got smacked by the US College teams, Korea and China in tune to the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

Right now we are seeing a mystery, Are we seeing a team which continues to hold back? A team which is really on a loss and has no chance to win in the grand stage? A team which has lost lots of precious preparation time due to the professional league and the commissioner's vision? Or a team that is just playing possum?

In 2 weeks time we will know.