Gilas Pilipinas suffers a narrow loss against No. 24 Finland, 85-89
GILAS Pilipinas sustained a narrow 85-89 defeat to Finland Wednesday night as it capped its training camp in Estonia without a win but with a better understanding of how much work is needed.
As in their 71-81 loss to the Estonians the night before, the Nationals found themselves in an 11-29 hole early on and furiously clawed back up but fell short in the end.
“It’s obvious that we’re still very far from being in any kind of competitive game shape,” said coach Chot Reyes.
“(But) we’re not supposed to be in game shape yet at this point because we have to make sure that we peak at the right time. We don’t want to peak too early and burn out in the end. So that’s all part of the process and I’m very happy, I’m very satisfied with the effort.”
Mr. Reyes took note of the improved performance against No. 24 Finland coming off the camp-opening match against the Estonians Tuesday.
“Definite metrics as targets for this game, No. 1 was to cut down our turnovers. We had 23 yesterday and today, we were able to cut that down by eight,” he said.
“We finished with 15 assists on 15 turnovers. So, at least, we were able to up our assist-turnover ratio to 1:1 as against yesterday when it was a negative (12 assists versus 23 errors). That’s a good sign that we played better today.”
The Finland game illustrated Gilas’ rebounding deficiency, The Filipinos lost the battle of the boards by 18 and gave up 29 offensive boards while hauling down a meager five.
“That’s really going to be a continuing cause for concern because of the size of all the teams that we are playing. So, that’s something that we need to continue to work on,” said Mr. Reyes.
He also rued the team’s “inability to start strong.”
“I think it’s really just a matter of getting used to the ‘FIBA pace.’ We’re still at a ‘PBA starting pace’ and that’s why these games are so valuable to us. So the players can experience it and feel how hard these teams start from the tip. In both games after those poor starts, when we had the chance to settle down and get into our own rhythm, then we’re fine.”
Dwight Ramos carried the scoring cudgels for Gilas again with 15 with Justin Brownlee (11), June Mar Fajardo (10) and Scottie Thompson (10) helping out.
The Tallinn sortie done, Gilas pool is next headed to Lithuania for the second phase of its pre-FIBA World Cup buildup in Europe. Four more friendlies are in store there for the Nationals, who hope to toughen and sharpen up preparation for Italy in the WC proper in August.
“I’m just so happy that the two teams that we played so far really pressed us from end-to-end, start to finish. Our players never get that kind of pressure, whether it’s in the PBA or Japan or Korea, that sustained, all-the-way kind of pressure, And no matter what we do, we cannot simulate that in practice. So that’s why we’re playing these games,” said Mr. Reyes.
“The kind of learning they’re getting, handling that kind of pressure, being able to pressure right back, I think those are the invaluable lessons…So far I’m happy with our effort. It’s not perfect, there’s still a lot of improvement, but I think it’s a very good first step.” — Olmin Leyba
