A closer look at Gilas’ unconvincing win over Hong Kong
This goes down as a win, but it sure doesn't feel like it.
Gilas struggled against inferior opposition on Wednesday, only pulling away from a Hong Kong team composed of many amateurs in the last few minutes of the game.
Rick Olivares reported in his blog that Hong Kong's ballers don't exactly eat, sleep and breathe hoops.
There's a fireman, a couple of university professionals, a policeman, and a lawyer on this team. They sometimes have difficulty training together because of work commitments.
The 67-55 loss to the highly paid professionals on the Gilas roster is a tremendous result for them. They played out of their skin and will talk about the game with their grandchildren for sure. Full credit to them, they worked hard, played great defense and made some big baskets to thwart Gilas for much of the game.
I was chatting with my buddy Edge Montero at the half and he said that Gilas is a team that “plays to the strength of its opponent.” He may be right.
ALSO READ: By the numbers: Gilas delivers Qatar's first loss.
In this FIBA Asia Chot Reyes' charges have shown an admirable ability to rise to the occasion, but also a disturbing propensity to fall to it as well. The opening-day win against Saudi Arabia is another example of this.
The cringeworthy performance by the Philippines raises a very obvious question for the Philippines: what on earth do we do when the three point shots don't fall?
The Philippines shot a miserable 5 of 24 from beyond the arc, with only Jeffrei Chan (3 of 5) in his rhythm from the perimeter.
A hobbled Marcus Douthit was a warrior for Gilas, gutting out thirteen points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks, but he never looked comfortable thanks to that aching calf and shin. There isn't a player in this tournament who is looking forward to the Thursday rest day more than him.
June Mar Fajardo got some burn in the third quarter, but the 6'10” Cebuano was unable to make an impact in his two minutes of playing time. Douthit, with 31 minutes, played the most of any Pinoy.
The Philippines was unable to establish much of an inside game, with the Philippines mustering just 26 points from the paint, only four more than Hong Kong. With brick upon brick being laid from outside, Gilas struggled.
ALSO READ: Thrilling Qatar win means Gilas avoids China in quarters.
The visitors also outrebounded the home team 45 to 36, with the youthful Duncan Reid hauling down 19 boards for Hong Kong along with his twelve points.
It's ironic that Derek Pumaren is the consultant for Hong Kong, because late in the game Gilas trotted out that Pumaren favorite, the full-court press. The pressure did pay dividends with some late turnovers that the Pinoys converted into scores.
Props to LA Tenorio, who came up large in the third quarter with three three-point plays (two and-ones and a triple) that help set up the fourth quarter surge.
Everyone was hoping that this would be Gary David's night to shine but he flubbed both of his field goal attempts and was scoreless in twelve minutes.
This is not the result the Philippines needed going into the quarters. Fortunately, Kazakhstan is meeting them there, and not China, thanks to a gutty win by Qatar over previously unbeaten Chinese Taipei.
Kazakhstan is in a free-fall. After a courageous stand against China on Monday when they lost 73-67, the Central Asians were taken to the woodshed by Korea 71-47 on Tuesday and then on Wednesday suffered through an 83-53 thrashing at the hands of Iran.
Even though they lost all three Group F games, they back into the quarters thanks to even worse play from Bahrain.
The Kazakhs are a tall outfit with guys like Mikhail Yevstigneyev and Anton Ponomarev. But they were outfoxed by a clever and cohesive Korean team when I watched them the other night.
The Philippine frontliners of Douthit, Ranidel De Ocampo, Japeth Aguilar, Marc Pingris and Fajardo will have their hands full trying to match up with the Kazakh bigs.
There can be no excuses in the knockout stage. Gilas will need to be on song to hurdle the Kazakhs and keep the dream of Spain 2014 alive. The whole nation will demand nothing less.
Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333.
