GILAS PILIPINAS GIVES FRANCE A SCARE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 16 Aug 2014
Gilas Pilipinas, the Philippine national basketball team gave the world?s fifth-ranked team and European champions France a scare in the opening game of a four-nation pocket tournament in Antibes, France early Saturday morning, Manila Time.
The game will be telecast on TV5 starting at 5 p.m. today (Saturday).
The Filipinos showed all heart and loads of talent as they battled the French bannered by six NBA payers in their line-up and a couple of potential future draft picks to lead most of the way with a layup by team captain Jimmy Alapag giving the Philippines a 60-55 lead with just over seven minutes to play forcing the French coach to call a time out.
The fearless Filipinos attitude was demonstrated early in the game when high-flying Japeth Aguilar scored on a rim-rattling slam dunk over the Indiana Pacers Ian Mahinmi who plays for France off after LA Tenorio drew the defense and dished off a pass.
At this point Filipino basketball analyst Christian Soler who was watching the live streaming of the game in the US tweeted ?the French commentators are going crazy.?
Back to back baskets by 2013 NBA draft pick Joffrey Lauvergne and a basket by veteran Thomas Heurtel edged France in front 68-66 in the last two minutes of the game after Paul Lee scored on a layup.
Two free throws by F Pietrus with 1:51 left pushed France further in front 70-66 and after Chot Reyes who coached superbly and inspired the Gilas Pilipinas players throughout sued for time, Lee was fouled but could only make one of his two free throws to come to within three points, 70-67 with one minute and 40 seconds remaining before a huge triple from the corner by 6?4? point guard Antoine Diot virtually killed the Philippines according to Reyes who noted the French had converted only 1 of 17 three point attempts before the Diot basket that gave France a 73-67 cushion.
With just over a minute to play Lee was fouled once again but could only split his charities for a 73-68 count before Pietrus scored to ease the French in front 75-68 and Nicholas Batum of the Portland Trailblazers blocked Lee?s final attempt to help France escape with a 75-68 win but not before getting a monumental scare from the Philippines.
The Philippines only NBA player, naturalized American Andray Blatche of the Brooklyn Nets and Paul Lee top scored with 12 points apiece even as Blatche grabbed 7 rebounds while Lee?s Rain Or Shine teammate in the PBA, lefty shooting star Jeff Chan contributed 9 points with diminutive skipper Jimmy Alapag and Ranidel De Ocampo adding eight points each.
Gilas Pilipinas shot impressively from beyond the arc burying 12 of 29 attempts for a high 41 percent clip.
Batum led France with 16 points in addition to 11 rebounds. Significantly, NBA champion San Antonio Spurs Boris Diaw scored only one point but grabbed 10 boards to go along with 4 assists.
In an exclusive overseas telephone conversation after the game coach Chot Reyes said he ?wanted to see if we could compete and had the game to play with these guys.?
Reyes said he was ?very pleased? with their showing and emphasized ?we were never intimidated. I urged them, don?t allow big teams to push us around.?
Reyes said he was forced to sit Blatche down after he twisted his ankle in the third quarter which deprived Gilas of a three-point shooter.
The coach was obviously happy with the performance of Gilas Pilipinas as he kept laughing at times during our conversation and indicated he was more than impressed with the fact that the Philippine team forced ?one of the top five teams in the world to refuse to play man-to-man and to instead play zone.?
Reyes said FIBA Asia Championship Mythical Five point guard Jayson Castro didn?t even suit up because he had what the coach described as ?a bad fall in practice resulting in a sore hip.?
Looking ahead to their next game against Australia, Reyes ?they are huge.?
The scores:
France (75) ? Batum 16, Lauvergne 12, Pietrus 10, Diot 8, De Colo 8, Fournier 6, Mahinmi 5, Gelabale 5, Gobert 2, Heurtel 2, Diaw 1, Jackson 0.
Gilas Pilipinas (68) ? Blatche 12, Lee 12, Chan 9, Alapag 8, De Ocampo 8, Norwood 7, Tenorio 3, Douthit 2, Aguilar 2, David 2, Fajardo 2, Pingris 1, Dillinger 0.
Quarterscores: 22-20, 35-39, 52-55, 75-68.
Photo: Japeth Aguilar of Gilas Pilipinas dunks the ball during the game against France Friday. Photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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