It finally happened. For the first time in more than three decades, the Philippines will not bring home the gold medal in the men's 5x5 basketball competition at the Southeast Asian Games.
A well-prepared Indonesia upset tournament favorites Gilas Pilipinas 85-81 in the last day of competition of the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi to win the country's first gold medal in the event. Indonesia finished the tournament a perfect 6-0, while Gilas goes home with a silver with a 5-1 record.
To say that this is a massive upset would be an understatement.
Prior to Sunday's game, the Philippines had won 18 of 20 men's basketball gold medals and were riding a 52-game winning streak dating back to 1997. While other Southeast Asian countries routinely dominate other sports, men's basketball had been the Philippines' domain.
Only Malaysia had managed to win two gold medals: in 1977 and 1989. Now, Indonesia has made it a club of three.
How did Indonesia pull off their own version of a "Miracle in Hanoi"? We break down the game and the tournament.
1. Outside shooting
Indonesia had it in this game, Gilas didn't. The Indonesians made 13 of 31 three-point attempts, while Gilas could only hit 3-of-16. For the tournament, Gilas just couldn't find their shooting rhythm, hitting on just 22% from 3-point range.
Indonesia swung the ball well in the perimeter and found the open man for good looks from the outside. It didn't hurt that almost all of them had a good stroke from beyond the arc. Agassi Goantara, Brandon Jawato, Abraham Grahita, Derrick Xzavierro and Andakara Dhyaksa all hit at least two triples each.
In contrast, only three Gilas players hit one triple. The Philippines appeared to take control of the game late in the third period, going up 60-54. But Indonesia closed the quarter with three straight triples to wrest the lead for good heading into the fourth. When you're hot, you're hot.
2. Marques Bolden was unleashed
The 7-foot Bolden, Indonesia's new naturalized player, did not play in the first four games because of a back injury. He played five inconsequential minutes against Vietnam on Saturday night.
Against Gilas, he played 32 minutes and poured on 18 points to go along with 10 boards and clearly impacted the game. Suddenly, June Mar Fajardo was no longer the tallest player on the floor.
Bolden came up with two crucial plays in the last minute, following up a miss by Goantara to make it 81-76 then, after Matthew Wright hit a triple to cut it to two, deflecting Wright's potential game-tying drive with 11 seconds left. Bolden was recruited by Rajko Toroman last year to replace former PBA import Lester Prosper, and he's showed he was worth the wait.
3. Indonesia has some pretty good players and coaches
Toroman, the former Gilas coach, has been with Indonesia's basketball program since 2019. He's now the program director, with fellow Serb Milos Pejic taking over as head coach. The Indonesian national team has been training under the Serbian style of basketball for three years now.
Aside from Bolden, they have young phenom Xzavierro, a 6-8 19-year-old who's been training at the NBA Global Academy in Australia for over two years. Brandon Jawato, a 6-4 guard, has experience playing in the Japan B.League.
Make no mistake, Indonesia came to Hanoi believing they could win the gold medal.
4. The conditions were ripe for a Gilas loss
It's tempting to blame the lack of preparation on this debacle, since this version of Gilas had only around three weeks to prepare and didn't practice as a complete team until the Ravena brothers flew in from Japan. But as early as the 2017 Games, the danger signs were already there.
A young Gilas selection backstopped by PBA players Christian Standhardinger, Troy Rosario, Baser Amer, Kevin Ferrer and Kiefer Ravena, nearly lost to Thailand in the group stage and to Singapore in the semifinals. Everyone just forgot about that after the SBP fielded a PBA Dream Team in the 2019 Manila Games.
This Gilas team was flawed -- only two pure shooters, lack of depth off the bench -- but this lineup would have won the gold as recently as seven or nine years ago. Not so in 2022, where Indonesia was the perfect foil.
It had a coach who knew the Philippine style of play, a big, athletic naturalized player to shut down the paint and neutralize Fajardo, and a ton of players who could shoot well.
5. Fatigue likely set in
Chot Reyes used only eight players, and one of them -- Kib Montalbo -- played only five minutes. So he was essentially rotating only seven players for the majority of the game.
Towards the end, Indonesia just had more energy. They were quicker to grab loose balls, relentless off the boards, and stayed disciplined on defense.
Would LeBron Lopez or Will Navarro or Isaac Go have made a difference? It's hard to say for sure. But four Gilas players logged 31 or more minutes each. In contrast, Pejic rotated 10 players, with only two -- Bolden and Dhyaksa -- logging more than 30 minutes.