What the next 3 days mean for Gilas Pilipinas

MANILA, Philippines — If Gilas Pilipinas are to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Madrid, Spain, they will need both Marcus Douthit and Ranidel De Ocampo to be at their best. 

But, from the looks of it, both Douthit and RDO will be walking wounded. 

For those not in the loop, Douthit has a bruised calf, while RDO is nursing an MCL injury. Under normal circumstances in any pro circuit in the world, those injuries should require both players to miss a couple of games AT THE VERY LEAST, but these are by no means normal circumstances.

These are desperate times, and we must trust in desperate measures.

So will both bigs last 3 more grueling days? Will they survive the final run at the elusive World Cup berths and the even more elusive FIBA Asia title?

There is no other way. They have to.

And what do these 3 days, these 3 games, actually mean for Gilas Pilipinas and the entire Filipino people?

Well, let’s look at it this way — 

We now live in a time and place where Manny Pacquiao is no longer unassailable and where Efren “Bata” Reyes and Django Bustamante are but icons of a bygone era. The Azkals are still some ways away from the top tier of Asian football, and the Volcanoes, despite reaching the main division of Asian rugby, still need vast improvements to stand toe-to-toe with giants Japan and South Korea. 

So, once again, we look to a sport that has broken our hearts many times, a sport that has sent us crashing into the doldrums in the past, and to heroes new and old, for salvation.

For unity.

Once again, we hope that our courtship of basketball will yield joy and not sorrow. Long have we labored and long will we continue to persist. 

Because in these next three days, in these next three games, our fates are all intertwined. We are all one team. We all have one mission. 

Not just for Spain.

Not just to be Kings of Asia again.

This time around, winning will mean hope. 

Winning will mean change. – Rappler.com