Gilas unleashes Lee-thal weapon

MANILA, Philippines -- Gilas coach Chot Reyes was already impressed with Paul Lee at practice. All he wanted was to see that on international game.

Lee responded with a spectacular 18-point, 4-assist debut oftentimes breaking down Chinese Taipei's defense as he led Gilas Pilipinas to 78-64 trashing of their rival in the 5th FIBA Asia Cup on Saturday at Wuhan, China.

Lee's smashing debut overshadowed Gilas' error prone game in its opening assignment.

Phl turned the ball over 26 times which Chinese Taipei capitalized to grab the upperhand, 50-47, at the half after trailing by 16 early on.

Trailing by two, 52-54, in the third quarter, Gilas dropped a 13-0 bomb fueled by Ranidel de Ocampo, Gary David and Lee's three-pointers as the Filipinos took full control of the game again, 65-54, on

David added 16 points as he led the early Gilas juggernaut zooming to a 10-0 lead at the start. Marcus Douthit scored only eight but grabbed 16 boards and had three blocks to neutralize counterpart Quincy Davis' 15-9-2 point-rebound-block effort.

Ranidel de Ocampo and LA Tenorio chipped in 11 points apiece.

Gilas will take a rest Sunday then resumes its campaign against Singapore on Monday which will be aired on TV5 at 8pm.