Curse broken, on to the next challenge

MANILA, Philippines — After all this time. After all the heartbreaks. After all the tears. After all the missed free throws, the botched plays, and the friggin’ Korean comebacks.

After all the darkness.

We are now in the light!

And, boy, it was all worth it.

Worth it.

The stadium was still in tears tonight, but no longer for the same sad reasons as before. 

These are unmistakable tears of triumph. The kind you relish and want to drown in because you know how much you’ve had to endure. 

In many ways, this game was all our bad basketball history with Korea condensed into 40 minutes. Highest of highs. Lowest of lows. Great talent on both sides, and even greater heart.

But, at last, on this night, we were the ones who pulled through. 

With Gilas already trailing Korea in the first half, things took a sudden turn for the worse when Marcus Douthit limped to the locker room because it seems he re-injured his right calf.

Douthit never returned.

Ironically, however, Douthit’s exit proved to be the spark that Gilas needed. With their big brother or “kuya” out of commission, the Gilas boys rallied each other not only to catch up with Korea, but to take charge of the game and clinch the elusive World Cup berth.

There were many heroes, of course. Foremost among them were probably Jayson Castro and Marc Pingris, whose game-long brilliance kept Gilas in the game and eventually towed the team ahead of the Taeguk Warriors.

Castro scored 17 points, had 3 assists, and 1 block in a scintillating display of speed, while Pingris reeled in a mighty double-double with 16 markers and 10 caroms despite being severely undersized against the Korean frontline.

Despite their efforts, however, Korea still had the inside track in earning the W, and they would have had it not been for the heroics of one Jimmy Alapag.

The National Team veteran, who was part of the 2007 team that failed to make the quarterfinals and of the 2011 team that lost to this team in the bronze medal game, personally collected on Korea’s payables in the fourth quarter. He drained basket after basket as coach Yoo Jae-Hak’s wards kept within striking distance.

Almost single-handedly, Alapag was the one who lifted Gilas past Korea and on to Spain.

In the end, the Mighty Mouse drained 4 triples on his way to 14 points in just 17 minutes — a performance that will certainly go down as one of the finest in Philippine hoops history.

And so now, we can finally say that payback is, indeed, sweet. 

And that curse, that damn curse, is finally broken. 

On to the championship game against the gargantuan Iranians.

And, afterwards, to Spain. – Rappler.com