SMART GILAS DIDN?T NEED DOUTHIT IN MAULING MACAU
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 17 Sep 2012
The Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team didn?t need towering naturalized center Marcus Douthit in mauling a young and inexperienced Macau squad 98-46 to wind up their Group A campaign with a 3-1 card and almost certain to face the winners of the Qatar-Chinese-Taipei game in the knockout quarter finals in the 4th FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo, Japan.
With Douthit rested for the tough tests ahead, JR Reyes grabbed the opportunity to get some solid minutes finishing with 12 points along with Gary David while shooting star Jeff Chan continued his hot streak to lead the team with 18 points.
Fresh from smashing victories over Lebanon who went on to beat China by 20 points and an 85-50 rout of Uzbekistan, the Filipinos played relaxed basketball and occasionally applied their vaunted defense against Macau to fulfill coach Chot Reyes desire to stay sharp.
Ranidel De Ocampo who has been playing lots of basketball both in the PBA, the winning Jones Cup effort and now the FIBA Championships opened the juggernaut with a pretty hook shot off a spin move while young Matt Rosser who is blossoming into another version of Gabe Norwood scored on a spectacuklar alley-oop dunk of a lob pass from point guard LA Tenorio and Chan kept swishing the hoop as the Philippines scored 33 points in the opening quarter while limiting Macau to a mere 14 points.
Chan almost single-handedly outscored Macau with 13 first quarter points anchored on three big triples.
The nationals relaxed somewhat on the defensive end and allowed Macau to outscore Smart Gilas 18-12 to cut down the lead to 13 at 45-32 with some 2:45 remaining in the half.
But the Philippines quickly cut short any hopes that Macau may have entertained with triples by Norwood and Chan from opposite corners of the court and a scrambling layup by Rosser to establish a 55-33 lead at the half.
That lead ballooned to 42 as Smart Gilas ended the third period up 83-41 behind Gary David who scored 10 points in the stretch and Jared Dillinger who has more than ably filled the void created by the absence of Sol Mercado, finishing it off with a basket as time ran out.
A three-point basket by Tenorio and two Norwood dunks sandwiched a basket by Reyes to make it 95-46 followed by a Sonny Thoss basket off another Tenorio pass and although Enrico Villanueva continued with his free throw shooting woes missing four in a row, Thoss ended the game with a throw-down that put an exclamation mark to the 98-46 victory.
The stats indicated total domination by the Philippine team with a 41 percent shooting clip from beyond the arc, dominating the paint with a 46-14 spread in points and a tital of 24 assists with Rosser?s 9 assists being one more than the entire Macau squad who had 8.
Centennial National Team coach Tim Cone tweeted his response to our own tweet praising Chot?s brilliant coaching. Cone said ?Very much agree. He has them playing with a disciplined system and playing with great unselfishness. Impressive.?
In a post-game interview with FIBA Asia after the Macau game, Reyes said ?looks like whichever team it is, it?ll be a tough one? stressing that whether its Qatar or Chinese-Taipei ?both are as good or as tough as the other.?
The scores:
SMART-Gilas Pilipinas (98) ? Chan 18, David 12, Reyes 12, Dillinger 11, Rosser 11, Norwood 9, Tenorio 7, Fonacier 6, Thoss 6, De Ocampo 4, Villanueva 2.
Macau (46) ? Lao 14, Cheong 12, Lo 10, Cai 6, Lai 4, K. Iong 0, N. Iong 0, Wong 0.
Quarterscores: 33-14, 55-33, 83-41, 98-46.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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