A Humbling Experience

We just played against a local professional team here in Serbia and lost by 30 points. I can't pronounce nor remember the team name. All i know is that they are one of the top teams here in Serbia and made it to the 'Super League' in Eastern Europe. They were just so tall, smart and fundamentally sound. Moreover, they play as a team so well. They set great screens and they move really efficiently. The wingman i was guarding was 6'6 and with African origins. He was their import. And when he was substituted, i would guard another guy who was about 6'4. I'm officially 5'10. Their centers stood at around 6'10 and are quite athletic for their size. Anyway, the style of their games is just so different from the way we play back home in Manila and the way the Americans play in the NBA. Pass, pass, pass, shoot! No non-sense dribbling.

Before coming here to Serbia, we played Talk and Text for an exhibition game and beat them by 20 points. We felt that we were improving, but when we played here... it was just a wake up call and a realization on the level of basketball internationally.

Honestly, we didn't play to the level we're supposed to be playing because probably, we were in awe and impressed but I think if we played our game against this Serbian team, we would have lost by just around 10 to 15 points. Still bad i know! The tactics we observe from the teams here are really so fundamental but we take them for granted. Very unselfish basketball despite clear advantages for them in terms of match ups. The guy i was guarding could have easily posted me up (which most coaches in the Philippines would have done) but they respected their system. Very disciplined! Too bad for us we had to play them in our first game here in Serbia. I heard the rest of our games coming up won't be as strong as that team but still very very tough. We have 7 games in 8 days here. So another game coming up.

Before going to bed last night, i was talking to my roommate JV and we agreed that this was truly a humbling experience for us but fortunately, we have a long term program and a great coach who, we believe, can bring out our potentials to the fullest.

P.S. I'll try to find a way to post pics from here because i don't have my laptop, just a public computer.