FORGET about the bad memories of 2014 and let this group restore the pride of the Philippines in the Asian stage.
Four years after the controversial own goal in the Asian Games that shook Philippine basketball to its core, the two remaining remnants from that Gilas Pilipinas squad promised that this batch won't have to deal with that infamy again.
Paul Lee and Gabe Norwood vowed to erase the memories of that experience with a more inspiring performance for this Philippine team now tasked to go for a medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
"No more of that. We won't have to deal with that again," said Norwood, the longtime national team fixture who admitted he already forgot about the incident.
"Of course, kailangan rin i-redeem talaga yung national team natin. Yung nangyari nung last time, medyo masama," added Lee, who is returning to national team duty for the first time since that tournament.
The two were witnesses when Gilas, needing an 11-point victory over Kazakhstan to stay in the hunt for a semifinal seat, ordered naturalized player Marcus Douthit to shoot on its own basket in a desperate attempt to tie the game at 67 and force overtime.
That shot was nullified under the Fiba rule on own goals that clearly states that "if a player deliberately scores in the team's own basket, it is a violation and the basket does not count."
The Filipinos did come out with the 67-65 victory over the Kazakhs, but with only a 1-2 record to brandish in the quarters, failed to make it to the final four.
It was a disappointing finish for the Chot Reyes-led side, which was fresh off a confidence-boosting win over Senegal in the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain, and settled for a measly seventh place finish in Incheon.
Lee is now hoping for a different ending under Yeng Guiao.
"We’re trying to compete talaga just to improve our standing sa ranking nung Asian Games," said Lee. "Hopefully, mag-work lahat nung tinatrabaho namin ngayon sa sistema ni coach Yeng."
Norwood said: "We know what the goal is and it's not just to better our seventh place finish, but if we can make it to the podium, why not? But we know the task ahead of us and we know that we have to redeem the Philippines in the Asian level."
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