GILAS Pilipinas wound up with a 1-2 mark in its final three tune-up games before the FIBA World Cup but that’s just fine with national coach Chot Reyes.
“Finally, we were able to get Jordan (Clarkson) and Kai (Sotto) and Scottie (Thompson) to play with the rest of the guys,” Reyes said after his charges, who played without naturalized star Jordan Clarkson, dropped a 77-84 loss to world No. 30 Mexico last Monday night behind closed doors at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
“That’s the most important thing pagpasok ng FIBA World Cup– we’re not gonna go in cold,” he added.
The Philippine five ripped Ivory Coast 85-62 in the first of its three-match scrimmage against fellow World Cup squads four days back but could not get the job done in the last two friendlies, counting an 87-102 setback at the hands of a Nikola Vucevic-led Montenegro last Sunday night.
With Reyes convinced his team is now jiving with late additions Clarkson, center Kai Sotto, and reigning PBA MVP Scottie Thompson, Gilas can now fully train its sights on Dominican Republic.
The Caribbean side arrived last Monday night.
“Wala na, puro Dominican Republic na,” Reyes said. “The next two days (of practice) will be all purely(focused) on the Dominican Republic.”
The Filipino cagers kick off their bid in the global basketball showpiece event against NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns and Dominican Republic tomorrow, Friday, at the Philippine Arena before squaring off with Angola two days later at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Gilas winds up its Group A stint against Italy on Aug. 29 also at the Big Dome.
Now comes the hard part for Gilas.
“We’re going to condense everything we’ve learned in the past two months, in the tune-up games for the next few days,” Reyes said. “That’s what we have right now, that’s the best we can do.”
The squad needs to finish at least in the top two at the end of the group stage to advance to the next round and fan its hopes of becoming the best placed Asian squad to directly qualify for the Paris Olympics next year.
