Gilas Pilipinas complete individual leaders statistics in the 2014 FIBA World Cup

Updated September 7, 2014.

This statistics page is my first tribute to Gilas Pilipinas for its astounding basketball prowess in the just-concluded 2014 FIBA World Cup: From the stats of "only" the nine departments (per the original posting), I've now made it comprehensive by including 1) all 15 categories and 2) expanding beyond the top five players, putting here everyone and everything recorded on the official FIBA website leaders' stats page regarding our national team. (I wanted to do this earlier but I spent more time celebrating than writing post-win over Senegal. :p )

Points per Game:

1. Andray Blatche: 21.2
2. Jimmy Alapag: 9.2
3. June Mar Fajardo: 6.6.
4. Jayson William: 6.5
5. Ranidel de Ocampo & Lewis Tenorio: 6.2
6. Paul Dalistan: 5.8 
7. Gabe Norwood: 5.2
8. Jeff Chan: 4.8
9. Marc Pingris: 3.8
10. Japeth Aguilar: 2.5

Total Points:

1. Andray Blatche: 106
2. Jimmy Alapag: 46
3. June Mar Fajardo: 33
4. Ranidel de Ocampo & Lewis Tenorio: 31
5. Paul Dalistan: 29
6. Jayson William & Gabe Norwood: 26
7. Jeff Chan: 24
8. Marc Pingris: 19
9. Japeth Aguilar: 10

Field Goal Shooting %:

1. Andray Blatche: 44.2 (No other Gilas on FIBA stats page.)

2 Point Field Goals %:

1. Andre Blatche: 50.0 (No other Gilas on FIBA stats page.)

3 Point Field Goals %:

1. Jimmy Alapag: 45.8
2. Jayson William: 35.7
3. Jeff Chan: 33.3
4. Paul Dalistan: 31.3
5. Andray Blatche: 27.3
6. Ranidel de Ocampo: 26.3
7. Gabe Norwood: 13.3

Free-Throws %:

1. Jimmy Alapag: 86.7
2. Andre Blatche: 80.0

Rebounds per Game:

1. Andray Blatche: 13.8
2. June Mar Fajardo: 4.2
3. Marc Pingris: 4.0
4. Ranidel de Ocampo & Gabe Norwood: 3.0 
5. Paul Dalistan & Lewis Tenorio: 1.6
6. Japeth Aguilar: 1.5
7. Jimmy Alapag: 1.4
8. Jayson William: 1.3
9. Jeff Chan: 0.8

Blocks per Game:

1. Andray Blatche: 0.8
2. June Mar Fajardo: 0.6
3. Ranidel de Ocampo & Gabe Norwood: 0.2

Assists per Game:

1. Jimmy Alapag: 3.2
2. Jayson William: 1.3
3. Lewis Tenorio: 1.2
4. Paul Dalistan, Ranidel de Ocampo & Norwood: 1.0
5. Andray Blatche & Marc Pingris: 0.8
6. Jeff Chan & June Mar Fajardo: 0.4

Steals per Game:

1. Andray Blatche: 1.6
2. Gabe Norwood: 1:0
3. Jeff Chan, June Mar Fajardo & Marc Pingris: 0.8
4. Jimmy Alapag, Paul Dalistan & Lewis Tenorio: 0.6
5. Jayson William: 0.5
6. Ranidel de Ocampo: 0.2

Turnovers:

1. Andray Blatche: 5.0
2. Jimmy Alapag, Paul Dalistan & Marc Pingris: 1.4
3. Gabe Norwood: 1.2
4. Ranidel de Ocampo & Jayson William: 1.0
5. Lewis Tenorio: 0.8
6. June Mar Fajardo: 0.6
7. Japeth Aguilar: 0.5

Fouls:

1. Andray Blatche & Gabe Norwood: 3.2
2. Jayson William: 3.0
3. Marc Pingris: 2.8
4. Paul Dalistan: 2.6
5. Lewis Tenorio: 2.2
6. Ranidel de Ocampo: 1.6
7. Jimmy Alapag, June Mar Fajardo: 1.0
8. Japeth Aguilar: 0.8

Minutes per Game:

1. Andray Blatche: 33.8
2. Gabe Norwood: 31.8
3. Jimmy Alapag: 21.2
4. Marc Pingris: 20.8
5. Ranidel de Ocampo: 19.8
6. Lewis Tenorio: 17.6
7. Jayson William: 17.3
8. Jeff Chan: 16.0
9. Paul Dalistan: 15.0
10. June Mar Fajardo: 12.8
11. Japeth Aguilar: 7.5

Efficiency per Game (added September 4):

1. Andray Blatche: 22.4
2. Jimmy Alapag & June Mar Fajardo: 9.6
3. Marc Pingris & Lewis Tenorio: 5.6
4. Ranidel de Ocampo: 5.2
5. Gabe Norwood: 4.6
6. Paul Dalistan: 4.4
7. Jayson William: 2.8
8. Japeth Aguilar: 1.5

Double-Doubles:

1. Andray Blatche: 5

My second tribute is writing the resolution that Representative Edcel B. Lagman Jr. will file in the House of Representatives, "...COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING GILAS PILIPINAS FOR MAKING THE PHILIPPINES PROUD WITH ITS EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE IN THE 2014 FIBA BASKETBALL WORLD CUP IN SEVILLA, SPAIN."

Check the photo below. No House Resolution No. nor signature yet as Rep. Lagman has yet to file it tomorrow, September 8. He wanted to file it immediately after Gilas Pilipinas won over Senegal last Thursday night, but Congress does not hold sessions on Fridays. Still, yesterday's Philippine Star sports article Senate lauds national team has already mentioned it in its last paragraph.

Sarap maging Pinoy! Go June Mar! 

*  *  *

Posted September 2, 2014 (originally from my Facebook page, updated September 4, 9:24 am. And I'll keep this as it is; I've written enough about our win over Senegal in this post's first paragraph, up there. :) ):

We're ousted from qualifying to the second round of this 2014 FIBA World Cup. It was another close loss, this time to Puerto Rico. Still, it was another competitive game for Gilas. We have been beaten consecutively but never badly -- and we were definitely far from trounced every time. Can we now concede that the other much-highly ranked teams are and were not necessarily underestimating us, thus the closer-than-expected results? That Gilas is simply a lot more better than what is largely expected of the team, that our players are trained and talented enough not to lose by an average of 20+ points there in Spain? Now, let's see if we can eke out a win versus stronger-than-expected Senegal tonight.  

And, no blaming of the coach or any player; WE ARE NOT IN THEIR SHOES! When they get home, whatever the final outcome of their mission, they will surely meet about this FIBA World Cup experience, to figure out what went right and otherwise. To learn more lessons about the international game, to be guided better in the future. For the meantime, Senegal's our last chance to go home with at least a win.

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How the movie Congo and my guts gave me my first serious romantic relationship

Guts! Guts! Guts! Well, it does pay dividends to have guts. It was a rainy day in 1995 when I managed to ask out a girl from another university along Katipunan avenue to a movie date. Opportunistically, it was a rather scary movie I chose: Congo. So it was one "shocking" scene after the other, each met by a scream (hers), until the movie was winding down to its last few minutes. Clutch time, and I knew I was almost down to one, last "screamy" scene...but I was still torn between reservation and benevolent action. Then the malevolent primate (in the movie, not me) attacked, my date screamed, and I quickly threw caution to the wind and comforted her in the best way (I knew) possible. Guts saved me from being...uncaring.

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Running

Give me the widest expanse
of the greenest grass, tempered
by a shower of afternoon sunlight,
filtered by grey scattered clouds, upon
the flattest surface on earth, and I’ll run
forever from end to endless end, from your
arms and back to them, forever and ever
through embraces and goodbyes
without end, forever
and ever, amen.

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Filipina

She basks in the sun as she walks across the field of grass,
this April day of the dry season. Warmed, her bronze skin

   glistens along with her scars: one on her left eyebrow 

   which has become her eyebrow, the other marking her right cheek.

   Brown beauty standing strong.

The sun has been reigning supreme with his blazing surface, 

since time immemorial. Twin of Mother Earth, for eons
constantly vivifying and giving warmth to all he nurtures.
But every time the bronze beauty walks across her field of dreams,

the sun basks in her

   alone.

(Legendary Filipina actress and singer Nora Aunor, in her youth. She personifies a brown-skinned Filipina beauty. )

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Rhett Butler and Kintsukoroi: Two different attitudes on repairing the broken

"I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken - and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived." -- Rhett Butler, the lead character in Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind, before leaving Scarlett O'Hara who has broken his heart repeatedly.

"Kintsukuroi, translated literally as “golden repair,” is the Japanese art of restoring broken pottery with lacquer resin mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. For Japanese art collectors, the mended vessel is actually more valuable than the original unbroken pot. I think it is the same way with God and sinners. The vessel cracked and chipped but put together again becomes special to the Lord not because of any gold used to join the seams but because the Lord himself restored it." -- Francis D. Alvarez, S.J., in his God's Word Today column How do you receive correction? from The Philippine Star, August 24, 2014.

Which attitude and practice do we choose and apply regarding broken people and relationships? For me, it's really a case to case basis. Sadly, some people and relationships seem to be... 

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Crumpled piece of paper (a remembrance of the UP Diliman College of Fine Arts talent test)

Summer of 1993, and one of the tests* required for admission to the UP Diliman College of Fine Arts, BFA Painting was to sketch the sight of your hand holding a 

Crumpled piece of paper

Your edges are jagged but not sharp
enough to puncture nor slice
open anyone's skin.

You are too light to cause a bruise;
a projectile thrown just to annoy
and catch attention.

You soar to reach out to someone,
but she wouldn't break your fall
nor budge from your nudge.

You are an insignificant
lightweight piece
of trash.

*I wonder if they use the same set now (not necessarily in order): 1) the crumpled piece of paper; 2) geometric shapes from which you'll make a composition; 3) nine or 12 separate boxes on a sheet of paper, into each you'll draw "realistic" images that "are not what they seem to be at first glance" (familiar with the tricky top view of the man wearing a Mexican hat, taking a leak?); 4) a sketch of "David," Michelangelo's iconic sculpture (if I remember right); and 5) a visual interpretation of a weird description. For the last one, I remember mine as "Naglalakad ng pabaliktad ang kapre patungo sa altar." ("The kapre is walking upside down towards the altar." The kapre is a Philippine mythical creature -- though my late maternal grandmother swore that she actually saw one -- who is too kind that he is barred from entering Malacañang Palace and Hacienda Luisita.)

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Killer Silence

And silence has never been this harsh,
and now my life's one wicked farce.
Newborn babes cry no more,
the waves are mute when they wash the shore.

The tortured no longer scream in pain,
gone to sleep are they who have gone insane.

Still...

There are soothing words I want you to hear,
but your rejection is my greatest fear.

So in my angst, I'll give you peace.
Go celebrate one silent feast.

The Bard in the Sky

“Please keep your seat belts fastened while
we slice through ‘tremulous delight’
as ‘the heavens unfasten.’”

There. That’s what the pilot said,
quoting Edgar Allan Poe
and Pablo Neruda
in one sentence.

And we did.

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Pieces of Dreams, music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman

Four decades running, and now comes the realization, that it's a thin line, between a free spirit, and a lost one... :(

I chose the Jack Jones video because his album Jack Jones Sings Michel Legrand was the one my father played when I was a "little boy lost or found" in the early 80's, from which I first heard and enjoyed Pieces of Dreams which was nominated by the Academy Award for Best Song.

Pieces of Dreams
(Music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

Little boy lost 

In search 
Of little boy found 
You go on wondering, wandering 
Stumbling, tumbling 
'Round. . . 'round. . . 

When will you find 
What’s on the tip of your mind 
Why are you blind 
To all you ever were 
Never were 
Really are 
Nearly are 

Little boy false 
In search 
Of little boy true 
Will you be ever done
Traveling
Always unraveling 
You, . . you. . . 

Running away 
Could lead you farther astray 
And as for fishing in streams 
For pieces of dreams 
Those pieces will never fit 
What is the sense of it 

Little boy blue 
Don't let your little sheep roam 
It's time come blow your horn 
Meet the morn 
Look and see 
Can you be
Far from home... 

And it turns out that the movie Pieces of Dreams, with the eponymous soundtrack song, has a rather interesting story, especially for Roman Catholics. ;)

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