The 2013 FIBA Asia Championship Finals game between Gilas Pilipinas and Iran happened August 11 at the Mall of Asia Arena and Team Iran won versus the host team, Gilas Pilipinas to seal their 3rd FIBA Asia championship title.
Iran scored the first two points of the ball game but Gilas Pilipinas played good defense to take the lead in the early minutes. However, the first quarter ended with Iran having a two-point lead, 17-15.
Iran scored a 6-point lead early in the second quarter (26-20) before a glitch in the shot clock cause a delay in the game. The game resumed with Iran pulling away from Gilas Pilipinas but the Team Philippines did not let their guards down and cut Iran's lead to just 1 point at the end of second quarter (35-34).
The third quarter was a bit difficult for Gilas Pilipinas with Iran maintaining lead all throughout, even making a huge 10-point lead during the last 4 minutes of the said quarter. A buzzer-beater three-point shot from Iran hurt Gilas Pilipinas, which headed to the final quarter down by 9 points (62-53).
Gilas Pilipinas struggled during the 4th quarter with Iran being the more aggressive team. The lead of the Iranian team increased to as much as 16 points and they finished the series with an exclamation point (85-71), never losing a single game on their road to the finals of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.
Prior to the finals of FIBA Asia 2013, both Gilas Pilipinas and Iran have already qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup to be held in Spain next year. The two teams will be joined by South Korea, which came in third after beating Chinese Taipei in an earlier game. China, Qatar and Jordan settled in 5th, 6th and 7th places, respectively.
Congrats still, Gilas Pilipinas! Make us proud in Spain.
