Scottie Thompson was a polarizing figure amid the euphoria of Gilas Pilipinas’ twin victories last week in the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
A portion of the fans would discuss the way Thompson defended Jalen Harris during the thrilling overtime victory over Jordan and the court awareness and other intangibles he brought in that game. He had basically the same against Iran.
But others are looking at the five-second inbound violation in the Jordan game that nearly cost Gilas, until Kai Sotto made the game-saving block in the end. His lack of scoring is also being looked at, the missed free throws and some of the turnovers early in the Iran matchup.
Thompson is aware of the praises-and the criticism-and understands that’s part and parcel of being in the national team.
‘It’s normal,’ Thompson said. ‘Everyone has an opinion and it’s an honest mistake. And I take the blame for it. But ganun talaga ang mundo natin dito ngayon (but that’s how it is in our world today).’
The fourth window saw Thompson average 0.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, three assists and a steal in 26 minutes, numbers that will create further debate.
But coach Tim Cone has defended Thompson for the way he impacts the game-or what is described as ‘Scottie Things,’ like the hustle and energy-while Gilas team manager Alfrancis Chua and Asian Games mainstay Adrian Nocum noted that skeptics didn’t point out his defensive work.
Against Jordan, Thompson was given the arduous task of initially defending Freddy Ibrahim before spending the rest of the contest manning Harris, who before the fourth window was averaging 23.3 points.
Harris scored 19, but went 6-of-22 from the field while making only a handful during the business end of the ballgame.
Thompson took a backseat of sorts after his early struggles against Iran, with Juan Gomez de Liaño stepping up and scoring 16 points. Thompson would later share duties with Gomez de Liaño for the rest of the contest, especially in finding a way to stop Iran’s surprise spark plug, Mobin Sheikhi.
‘All of us want to impact the game defensively, and we do have some of our offensive guys,’ Thompson said. ‘It’s a total team effort and it’s not just one guy who can do it.’
Thompson and Gilas succeeded in their goal of sweeping the window, closing in on Jordan and Iran in the Group E standings. For now, Thompson is relishing the long break before the PBA resumes.
Recently, Thompson got to join fellow Ginebra players and their wives in playing pickleball in Las Piñas, finally getting to relax after the rigors of the Gilas work and shut off the noise surrounding his role with the national team.