Fluid motion, balanced offense keys to Gilas’ success

It's evident in all the victories of Gilas 2.0 since the Jones Cup that its offense is its biggest strength. The explosive drives to the hoop and swift passes have given defensive nightmares to opponents. And when the gunners start hitting their marks, it becomes incredibly hard to upend the Filipinos. Such was the case in the Jones Cup game against the Americans.

Against China in the 4th FIBA Asia Cup, Gilas' fluidity in offense was missing. The Nationals did a great job defensively against the taller Chinese, forcing them into 22 turnovers and a poor 27/71 field goal shooting, including 6/24 from beyond the arc. But the Philippines' offense was worse, converting just 24 of 69 from the field, and a pathetic six of 35 three-point shooting. While it's obvious that Gilas' outside sniping took a sick leave against China, the inside scoring was far from impressive as well. The Filipinos only managed to score 12 markers inside the paint, and just two second-chance points. Marcus Douthit finished with a measly 10 points. Gilas lost to China's developmental team, 68-71. The bulk of Gilas' score came from turnover points, with 19.

Gilas was a sorry sight against China even when it was commendable on the defensive end. This just shows that when the team's offense is struggling, even with a sturdy defense, Gilas chances of winning are reduced tremendously. But when its offense is flowing smoothly, the Philippines can beat any team in Asia. Jordan, Iran, Japan, Chinese Taipei and the USA found this out in the Jones Cup.

From the sorry loss to China, the Filipinos got their rhythm back against Lebanon and Uzbekistan. Gilas trounced the highly favored Lebanese, 78-68, and made mince meat of Uzbekistan, 85-50. By the scores alone, one can see that the Nationals shot better in these two games.

But against Lebanon, Gilas did not really shoot so well from the outside, making just two triples out of 13 tries. But the big difference was in inside scoring where it collected 34 points. Douthit was the hero in the game, garnering 25 points and 21 rebounds. The team also added ten second-chance points. And so the gunners may have been silent in this game but the inside operators got the job done.

The shooters finally showed up against Uzbekistan as the Philippines unloaded a total of eight treys. Jeff Chan, who struggled in the first two games, got his guns blazing with two triples each in the first and third periods. In this game also, there were more contributors in scoring. Jared Dillinger was steady with 10 markers, and Douthit chipped in nine. Matt Rosser finally showed what he could do, firing six of his eight points in the fourth quarter. Gary David, Larry Fonacier and Jay-Ar Reyes all scored seven points apiece, while Enrico Villanueva had six. The balanced scoring made it easy to attain this win.

The Philippines got a big break with the schedule as it closes out the elimination round with an easy assignment in Macau before a two-day rest. As expected, the Filipinos blasted Macau to pieces, 98-46, without Douthit on the floor. The coaching staff opted to give the former Providence star the day off. It didn't matter though as the Nationals lorded it over the much smaller Macau team, recording 46 points inside the paint.

The rebounding story was not so impressive however, with the Philippines just having a 45-38 edge. But the more significant story here is again having more fingers in the scoring pie for Gilas. Chan came out with another explosive game, amassing 18 points on a 4 of 7 sniping from trifecta land. But this time David and Reyes came through with a larger share in offense, with 12 markers apiece. Reyes even unleashed two three-point bombs. Dillinger was consistent with 11 points. But it was Ganuelas who came out as the biggest surprise with a near triple-double performance. The 22-year old Filipino-American collected 11 points, 9 assists and 9 caroms. This is a great game to build up the team's confidence going into the grinding playoffs on Thursday.

So what went wrong against China?

There are a few possible reasons. For one, most teams struggle offensively in the first day of the tournament. It takes awhile to get accustomed to the venue, unless a team has practiced there for at least a few days.

The other reason is that it's also the first time that Gilas has encountered a team that's tall and quick in all positions, and applies tremendous pressure defense. Since China sent a young team in Tokyo, with mostly members of its Under-20 national squad, it could be aggressive for 40 minutes. This Chinese team may not be as skilled as the main team that played in the London Olympics. But they were disciplined, determined and relentless in defense. The Filipinos had faced young teams from Japan and Chinese Taipei, and tall line-ups from Iran, Jordan and Lebanon. But this combination of size and speed in the Chinese team posed problems for the Philippines.

Gilas' gunners hardly got an open look as the Chinese defenders were quick to close out and contest the shots. Douthit could not get his game going as well because the taller Chinese defenders were quick to help inside. China took away Gilas' half-court game with a scrappy defense that never slowed down. This time the youth factor worked in favor of China. The Lebanese were big and talented but they could not be as aggressive and imposing defensively as the Chinese.

What made matters worse was that Gilas didn't move the ball too well against China, unlike in most of its games in Taipei. In many occasions, only two players got to touch the ball before a shot. In the Jones Cup, the leather rotated to all five players in several plays until it found the open man. This wore down the defense. Without good ball rotation, Gilas is not as effective with its half-court play.

Coach Chot Reyes and the rest of Gilas played their cards right against Lebanon, as they did against Iran, Jordan, Japan and the USA in the Jones Cup. The next challenge is how to maintain their fluid and balanced offense against a quick and sizeable squad like China that uses young cagers to suffocate opponents with an aggressive defense for 40 minutes. And because it is tall in all positions, China can defend both the perimeter and the paint. South Korea and Japan try to do the same.

In the FIBA Asia Cup, the Philippines could meet Qatar or Chinese Taipei in the quarters. Both are tough but Gilas should be able to survive either team. In the semis, the Philippines could be pitted against any team from among Iran, Lebanon, Japan and China. If in case they face China again in the semis or finals, the Filipinos can expect the same defensive intensity as in the opening day. And this can be a chance to redeem themselves.

The setback to China will definitely serve the team well in future competitions, especially in the big one — the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. For as long as Gilas can find ways to keep its offense in high gear, the nation can hope for a promising future in Asian basketball.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.