2026 ASIAN GAMES | OFTANA WENT OFF, BUT NOT ENOUGH AGAINST BAHRAIN

Calvin Oftana was the final addition to Gilas Pilipinas’ 12-man rotation. Adrian Nocum has also been a revelation, emerging as a fearless, do-it-all player. However, Tim Cone had no answer for Bahrain’s outside shooting or its naturalized behemoths.

One thing I have to say is that, while we were expected to face tough opposition from Jakarr Sampson and Elijah Thomas, we could have used someone to shadow Mustafa “Mosti” Rashed.

The guard erupted for 20 points, including four triples.

For the Scottie Thompson trolls, I bet you miss him now.

And while our big men did an exceptional job controlling the rebounds, this game was basically a tough All-Filipino squad going up against a team with two imports. Unless China and the other squads come up with the best solution, this Bahrain squad is going to be a handful.

That said, we can’t really say anything mean about what Bahrain did, because in the previous Asian Games, we had Justin Brownlee and Angelo Kouame.

Also, it’s not like they’re unbeatable.

Frankly, the biggest factor I saw in the game was our guards. I’m glad Adrian Nocum stepped up, and he did so as if he were the Dwight Ramos to Oftana’s Justin Brownlee.

That said, I was expecting a lot from Robert Bolick and, in some ways, Sedrick Barefield. It feels like whenever Tim Cone finds a player who’s new to his system, that player struggles mightily. And even with RJ Abarrientos, I can’t say that he had fully settled into Cone’s system, because his PBA version is way different from his FIBA version.

With Bolick, I thought he was there to make a statement that he should be in the main group. However, it felt like he was holding back. The move he made when he crossed his opponent and left himself open for a triple was good, but everything else was uncharacteristic.

As for Barefield, it felt like he was new to the whole FIBA game. The best way to prove my point is the sequence when Gilas had to score with 0.6 seconds left, and Barefield was about to receive the inbounds pass. Then, all of a sudden, he raced down to the Gilas side to take the half-court heave.

And going back to the final seconds, with 11.2 ticks left, Barefield let the man he was guarding receive the ball and then let him run away, even as Tim Cone was motioning for the team to foul.

Anyway, in this game, I found four players who might be of use in the next Gilas window, especially if we really need to fill the positions we lack.

First up is Calvin Oftana. Without question, his 31-point game is his best Gilas game ever. I think almost four months of rest did him well, and as the Asian Games go-to guy, I’m okay with him in that role as long as he stays aggressive.

When Yeng Guiao said that Adrian Nocum should be in the main Gilas squad, I believed him, especially with the way Nocum played here. Again, he played like Dwight Ramos, but instead of settling for outside shots, he was attacking the paint. Yes, he needs to improve his free-throw shooting, but I can see him working out there in case Tim Cone needs to move away from Chris Newsome.

Another player I thought did well is Zavier Lucero. I know he’s reed-thin, but he gets the rebounds. Plus, he has great ball-handling skills for a big man and doesn’t get rattled when a guard tries to poke the basketball away from him.

Tim Cone’s big-man committee of Justin Arana, Justine Baltazar, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, and Lucero did well against Bahrain’s bigs. That said, the edge Lucero had over these guys is that he can share the court with both Kai Sotto and AJ Edu.

Finally, Don Trollano can be used as a player to latch on to an offense-oriented guard. He also had two triples, which is one area we need to improve.

That said, these guys—the Team B guys—need to become a more cohesive unit.

If there’s anything good I’ve seen in this game, it’s the fact that, more than ever, we need an expanded Gilas pool. And while I know the Strong Group has dibs on the Jones Cup, this team, or the expanded Gilas core, has to play in the Jones Cup, Asian Games, SEA Games, and, I guess, other important tournaments that wouldn’t disrupt the PBA schedule, like the Dubai International Basketball Tournament.

I mean, let the Strong Group handle the EASL, though I don’t know if SGA would go for this, because the EASL requires a given period of commitment.

That said, I am not going to be that negative about the Asian Games outcome. Well, sure, it’s nice to see Gilas defend their crown, as the last time we successfully defended our basketball crown was 64 years ago. But if this leads to our country getting back to the FIBA World Cup, then I think I’m okay with it.

More importantly, I think it’s high time for Gilas to have an extended pool. I mean, Tim Cone has to keep this pool so that we won’t need to worry in case the international guys are barred from joining, suffer injuries, or face other predicaments.

The PBA will always be the lifeline of Gilas. They just need to gain confidence from playing against these types of players

in this kind of environment.

I mean, again, an All-Filipino PBA team lost to a team with basically two imports. I know Bahrain has more imports, and that would further accentuate my point.

That says a lot.

THE GILAS BOXSCORES

BAHRAIN DEFEATS GILAS PILIPINAS | 89 - 85

PLAYER	MP	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	FGM	FGA	3PM
OFTANA	30	31	2	1	1	0	11	19	6
NOCUM	31	14	7	5	1	0	5	15	1
BALTAZAR	19	10	6	2	0	0	5	8	0
TROLLANO	25	9	8	4	2	0	3	10	3
ARANA	13	8	4	0	0	0	3	5	0
GANUELAS-ROSSER	13	5	6	2	1	0	2	5	0
LUCERO	24	4	9	5	0	0	1	5	0
ABARRIENTOS	18	4	0	4	0	0	1	3	0
BOLICK	13	0	1	1	0	0	0	5	0
AHANMISI	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
BATES	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAREFIELD	10	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	0