HAVING clinched a slot in the FIBA Asia Cup in August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a team can opt to take it easy in no-bearing games.
But that’s not the case for Gilas Pilipinas.
The Philippine five hit the ground running anew yesterday for the third and final window of the qualifiers at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
National coach Tim Cone has tapped Ginebra players RJ Abarrientos and Ralph Cu as practice players since some of the members of the national team training pool are injured and not around, at least in the country.
Prized 7-foot-3 center Kai Sotto was ruled out of the qualifiers (ACL) while new addition Troy Rosario suffered a knee injury in Game 3 of the Kings’ quarterfinals win over the Meralco Bolts in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last Sunday night.
Overseas-based standouts Dwight Ramos and AJ Edu have rejoined the team while Chris Newsome and Carl Tamayo will show up in Qatar.
Cone’s charges will toughen up in a five-day training camp in Doha that features a three-game friendly, before commencing its bid in the final leg of the qualifiers.
The Filipino cagers are set to leave for the West Asian country tomorrow and see action the following day when they take on the Qatar national team to kick off the Doha International Friendly Basketball Championship.
After the pocket meet, Gilas will return to Manila for a brief respite before traveling to Chinese Taipei and taking on the host team on Feb. 20, and then proceeding to Auckland for a highly-anticipated rematch with New Zealand three days later.
Cone said he intends to give naturalized star Justin Brownlee some rest when he suits up for the team while he manages a painful blister.
“It’s gonna be tough especially because, you know, he’s going to Doha and gonna be playing all those games in between. It’ll be a way to keep him sharp but we got to make sure that we don’t overuse them,” Cone said. “So, we’re really planning some load management with Justin and we’re playing some load management with AJ Edu and also June Mar (Fajardo).
“We want to make sure that if people are going to be wondering why they aren’t on the floor all the time it’s because we’re keeping them trying to keep them fresh for Taiwan and New Zealand,” he added.
Gilas shows the way in Group B with a perfect 4-0 record, counting an emphatic 106-53 whipping of Chinese Taipei and a historic 93-89 breakthrough win against the Tall Blacks—all last year.
Over at the historic city of Calamba, Cone must have taught this to his players—it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
