5 takeaways from the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers bubbles

 DOHA (Qatar) & MANAMA (Bahrain) - The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers bubbles have come to an end, leaving us with some fun basketball memories to close out the 2020 calendar year. A lot has happened in both bubbles and here are five key takeaways from both venues in Bahrain and Qatar.

Fresh Looks

Having long-term familiarity and chemistry within a team is always good, but sometimes making tweaks, adjustments, and changes are needed in order to improve. This was the case for Indonesia and Syria and the results were significantly encouraging.

Both teams introduced new key pieces to their game plans and were able to collect important wins because of those new sources of contribution.

Indonesia featured Bradon Jawato and Lester Prosper for the first time and both went straight to work in their debuts. Jawato nearly had a triple-double with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists, while Prosper pounded on everyone in the paint for 19 points and 13 boards. More importantly, Indonesia were able to get an important win over Thailand in Group A.

Over in Group D, Syria were the team that were showing off their new look. Aside from adding potential new superstar Trey Kell to the lineup, they were also being led by new head coach Joe Salerno. The inspired coach promised the fans a new and entertaining look for Syria heading into his first two official games as a national team head coach.

Even though they stumbled out of the gates with a tough loss to Qatar, Syria rebounded for what might end up as their biggest win ever in Asia Cup competition by beating Iran, 77-70. They managed to pull off the major upset it by riding the wave of Kell’s second straight game with 30 or more points as well as the tactical adjustments by Solerno.

Change can be good. Embrace it.

No Lead is Safe

Michael Rostampour said it best in the Iran-Syria post-game press conference.

“This is the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers,” he said. “The level of intensity is at an all-time high.”

“…This is not a club competition. This is the FIBA Asia Cup. This is championship basketball. Any team can beat any team and we saw that…”

Iran had led in that game by as much as 10 points before falling prey to the upset.

A day before that, India lost by 18 points to Bahrain after leading by as much as 18 points themselves.

That same day, Iraq had fought their way to a 10-point led against Lebanon which they were unable to hold on to.

Syria themselves had led by 10 points against Qatar in their first game of the bubble and went on to lose by 7 points. Bahrain commanded a 16 point lead over Iraq, but had to finish the game off in overtime after seeing that cushion disappear.

The lesson to be learned by all teams in the Asia Cup Qualifiers is simple: No lead in safe.

Something to Prove

We featured some young players to watch in Window 1 of the Qualifiers and marveled at how promising their futures looked. From Muzamil Hamoda, Juan Gomez De Liaño, , Dwight Ramos, Chanatip Jakrawan, and Mohammed Alsuwailem (as well as other youngsters), the future looked bright.

What wasn’t expected was how that quickly that would improve to becoming consistent contributors for their respective teams.

Hamoda has easily stepped up to be one of the most important players for Bahrain and will continue to assume that role (if not an even bigger role) at Asia Cup 2021 which Bahrain have already qualified to play in.

The same can be said about the Philippines’ backcourt tandem of Ramos and Gomez De Liaño, both of whom had an impressive two-game stretch in the Bahrain bubble.

Thailand were unable to collect a win out of three tries, but they should be quite satisfied with the development of Chanatip Jakrawan who exploded for 34 points and 12 rebounds against the Philippines in their most recent game.

In a team like Saudi Arabia that is full of veterans, Alsuwailem has stamped his presence about their main big man for the long run.

Asia Cup fans were certainly excited for the promise that these youngsters displayed back in February. They should be even more elated now to see how far these bright young prospects have improved since.

Riveting Rivalries

An important part of entertaining basketball will always be the history between the two competing teams. There was plenty of that feeling in the air in both bubbles.

Despite both being up-and-coming basketball nations, Indonesia and Thailand have a fiery rivalry going on which they were able to revisit in the window. The loyal fans could see it in the eyes of their players and no one backed down until the final seconds.

Also a pairing that has rich history against each other was Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two teams have clashed at the biggest stage in the Asia Cup several times. Their matchup at the Qualifiers was another classic installment as Saudi Arabia were able to battle toe-to-toe with Iran down to the final minutes. The game was decided by clutch shots by Iran’s Behnam Yakhchali and Mohammad Jamshidi, leaving the fans hungry for more.

Aside from the rivalries already established are the ones that are budding and waiting their turn to blossom.

One matchup to keep an eye on in the future is that between India and Bahrain. Their clash in the first window was decided by a game-winner with barely 5 seconds to go. The second time they faced here ended up being a 36-point turnaround by Bahrain coming behind for the win. Bahrain have the currently own the bragging rights, but we can imagine that the sparks will be flying the next time there two teams face each other.

It’s always fun when teams a bit more emotionally invested in beating a specific opponent in front of them (even if ever so slightly), so we hope more and more rivalries will blossom in the future of Asia Cup basketball.

Good to be Back

Much effort was put forth into organizing the bubbles in both locations by all parties involved. In the exceptional circumstances, Asian basketball fans were able to enjoy having basketball back in their lives.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the Qualifiers started playing right after Thanksgiving… and surely everyone was thankful to see their favorite teams and players in action. That will be put on pause for a bit heading into the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers.

For now, it was good to watch Asia Cup basketball once again.

FIBA