PINGRIS
SEVILLA- A Hollywood scriptwriter would be fired if he came up with Croatia’s 81-78 overtime victory over Philippines as an ending to Marc Pingris’ story.
The Philippines power forward deserves a better ending – even though his just being at the 2014 Fiba Basketball World Cup is already like an amazing Oscar Award winning tearjerker.
First of all, the undersized 1.98-meter power forward has to battle all game against opposing players who are all taller than him.
“I really just have to give my 100 percent. They’re big but I need to use my quickness and 100 percent heart,” said Pingris after collecting 10 points, four rebounds and one steal in Philippines’ loss in the Group B opener in Sevilla.
It’s Pingris’ heart and hustle that Philippines coach Vincent ‘Chot’ Reyes appreciates so much.
“Marc Pingris as a player has no skill. He can’t shoot from the outside. He’s a very average ball-handler. He’s a great rebounder for the Philippines. Being 1.98m in the Philippines is tall, but here he’s overmatched against all the power forwards he faces. Yet, he’s one of the most important parts of our team, and his only skill is hustle,” said Reyes. “He works hard. Balls which you think are impossible to get to, he gets to.
You’ll think it’s impossible for him to defend the opposing team’s guy, and he’ll defend him. He’ll do that. That’s it, that’s his skill.”
That never-give-up spirit really shouldn’t be a surprise, considering how hard Pingris had to fight to get here and how amazing it is that he is playing in front of 3,500 people at the World Cup.
Pingris’ French father abandoned him and his Filipino mother very early in his childhood, leaving them basically with nothing.
His mother was a vendor in a wet market and Pringris as a kid helped her selling fruits, fish and whatever they could think of.
“They were so poor that they had no place to live in. They slept right in the market,” Reyes said. “He had a thin piece of sack which he laid on the floor and that was his bed in the marketplace. But because of his French father, he became 1.98m, and in the Philippines that’s tall.”
That helped Pingris go to college in Manila but he was forced to quit school and play commercially to support his sickened mother.
He played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and was good enough to make the national team, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Pingris eventually married an actress and has gone from a humble beginning to a comfortable life in Manila.
Reyes recalled a train ride with the team in Spain shortly before the start of the World Cup.
“We were in the train car where they were serving the food, and we are having nice coffee and cola and admiring the countryside. (Pingris) turned to me and said ‘Coach, imagine me. I was just selling watermelons and now I’m here, in Spain, in this train. From selling watermelons and sleeping in the middle of the market and now I’m here in these nice hotels in Spain, in these great surroundings,'” Reyes said.
“Man if that’s not a great story, I don’t know what is.”
If only the ending had been a bit different.
The Gilas embarks on a tough stretch, as it competes against Greece and Argentina in less than 24 hours. At 2 a.m. today, the Nationals will battle Greece. Then at 11:30 p.m., they will stand opposite Argentina, the third-best team in the world. /FIBA.COM