“SORRY, BOSS.”
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus and top Gilas Pilipinas backer Manny V. Pangilinan said this was the terse message national coach Chot Reyes sent to him after the team’s sorry 83-90 loss to Italy in the FIBA World Cup.
“Nag-text sa akin si Chot late last (Tuesday) night with only two words. Sabi niya, ‘Sorry, boss.’ Hindi pa ko sumagot, kasi hindi ko alam sasabihin,” Pangilinan said on News5. “I feel for Chot. I have no doubt he tried his best. I feel for the players, I have no doubt they have tried their best.
“Iniisip ko pa ano iyong sasabihin ko. Very delicate. I feel for him. I’m not one of the bashers, ‘di ba?” he added.
The Philippine five clashed with South Sudan in a crucial duel in the 17th to 32nd place classification round at press time last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Gilas will end its stint in the world cage extravaganza against China tomorrow, Saturday, also at the Big Dome.
The Filipino dribblers went into the World Cup with enormous expectations from the basketball-crazy nation propped up by the addition of NBA standout Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz to the squad.
But Gilas lost all its three games in Group A– to the Karl-Anthony Towns led-the Dominican Republic (81-87) and to Angola (70-80).
Despite Gilas’ woeful showing in the group stage, Pangilinan said they will roll with the punches.
“They’ve done a good job. It’s a very competitive tournament and very physical. We fell short with the way the ball bounces,” Pangilinan said.
“I hope the outcomes will improve our ranking from 40th (place). I told the folks in (the SBP) that we should dissect the issues as to why we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve.”
Pangilinan is hoping Reyes’ wards can surpass their last-place finish in China in 2019 or even their one-win outing in Spain nine years ago.
“It’s certainly a better performance than in 2019 where kulelat tayo doon,” he said. “It’s a question whether we perform better in this FIBA World Cup 2023 or in the 2014 version where we won one game.”
