GILAS PILIPINAS LOSES TO AFRICAN CHAMPIONS ANGOLA 83-74 BUT PLAY WELL
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 22 Aug 2014
In one of their best performances so far in the tune-up series leading to the FIBA World Cup which opens in Spain on August 30, the Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team lost to perennial African champions and Olympic qualifiers Angola 83-74 in San Sebastian early Friday morning Manila Time.
Head coach Chot Reyes told the Manila Standard/Viva Sports he ?really liked the way we played? with naturalized NBA player Andray Blatche finishing with 33 points and pulling down 17 rebounds in an explosive performance in 30 minutes of action.
The game was to be telecast over TV5 at 8:00 p.m. on Friday.
Reyes who had earlier expressed concern over the showing of big men Junmar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar said in a welcome turnaround they both battled the big and athletic Angolans, ?rebounded and had a couple of put-backs? although he said ?our shooters ? Jeff Chan, Ranidel de Ocampo and LA Tenorio had open looks but couldn?t hit their shots.?
The coach who emphasized that a lot of sound thinking went into the teams picked for the tune-up games which were precisely to prepare for the teams in the Philippines group in the World Cup.
He pointed out that Angola plays a similar style of basketball as Senegal and even Croatia while Egypt also plays like Senegal which is in the Filipinos group and the Dominican Republic which approximates the style of the South American teams like Puerto Rico which is also in the Philippine group.
Reyes said the coaching staff hasn?t been working on the nationals zone offense because he expects teams in the Philippine group to play man-to-man even as he recalled that when France ?couldn?t solve our offense, they zoned us which is what Angola also did after the Philippines ended the first quarter tied t 17-all and led by 9 points in the middle of the second quarter? before Angola uncorked a 26-8 run to lead at the half 43-34.
Chot was pleased that the team had made ?some positive strides although we are still in a learning mode.? He said unlike the previous game against Angola they ?played Andray (Blatche) in different spots? and it worked really well with Gilas Pilipinas once again coming to within five points 53-48 before another strong run by Angola gave them a 14 point lead 64-50 going into the final quarter.
The Filipinos charged back scoring nine straight points to kickoff the final quarter and trimmed the Angola lead to five points at 64-59 but another counter 8-0 saw the African champions race to a 15 point lead 76-61 before a 13-7 windup by the Philippines ended the game at 83-74.
Angola coached by former national player and Olympic veteran Paulo Macedo is ranked 15th in the FIBA world rankings and is the top team in Africa and a regular in the Olympic Games and the FIBA World Championships where they finished No. 15 in the 2010 World championships.
Coach Reyes said Asia?s top point guard Jayson Castro who is recovering from an Achilles injury was ?walking around with us? and he had to play Jared Dillinger just in case Castro may not be fit in time for the formal submission of the Gilas Pilipinas roster at the team managers meetings which is usually held one or two days before the opening.
Paul Lee who was also hampered by a niggling injury ?looked good today but had to be substituted because of early foul trouble.?
Angola were led by 6?4? guard Olimpio Cipriano with 29 points while naturalized player Reggie Moore finished with 14.side from Blatche, de Ocampo scored 9 points.
The scores:
Angola (83) ? Cipriano 29, Moore 14, Moreira 9, Fortes 7, Joaquim 6, Gomes 5, Mingas 5, Costa 4, Ndoniema 2, Santos 2, Manuel 0, Barros 0.
Gilas Pilipinas (74) ? Blatche 33, De Ocampo 9, Norwood 7, Alapag 6, Chan 6, Tenorio 4, Aguilar 4, Fajardo 3, Castro 2, David 0, Belga 0, Dillinger 0, Pingris 0.
Quarterscores: 17-17, 43-34, 64-50, 83-74.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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