Home are the ASIAD champion

MANILA, Philippines — Happy faces were all over as Gilas Pilipinas, the golden boys of the Hangzhou Asian Games, arrived home to the warmest of welcomes from a very appreciative and proud countrymen.

From the moment they walked out of the airplane door in the wee hours of Sunday, endless cheers from smiling countrymen and requests for selfies showered the returning heroes.

The scenes were so moving that Gilas coach Tim Cone, a known talker, groped for words.

“It was amazing,” was all the multi-titled mentor could muster.

“I’m almost like speechless. You know me, I could talk all day but I just don’t know what to say at this moment.”

Gathering his thoughts, Cone said it’s fulfilling to bring joy to the country that he’s called home and shared the passion for basketball with.

“I’m so happy that everybody is so happy, you know what I mean? I mean everybody is so happy about it. And that’s basically why you coach – to get those kinds of feelings,” he said.

Gilas overcame adversity after adversity in its entire Hangzhou Asian Games journey and in the end, delivered the gold medal that mattered most to Filipinos who eat, sleep and breathe basketball.

Thanks to Cone’s 12 brave souls, the Philippines sits at the Asian Games summit again – first time this proud hoops nation holds the bragging rights since 1962.

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee is as happy to savor and share with fellow Pinoys this triumph, which easily surpassed his highest of highs in the PBA.

“It’s gotta be up at the top despite everything (that happened throughout the campaign). With the history, 60-something years (Asian Games title drought), 30-plus years of not getting into the gold-medal match, it’s definitely up there,” he said.