Smart Gilas yields to tall Chinese five

WUHAN – A decimated power in the wings weighed down heavily on a Smart Gilas Pilipinas five ranged against the tall and talented host team.

The continued sidelining of shooting forwards Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz proved too much of a handicap for the Nationals to bear as they bowed to the Chinese, 60-75, in Day Two of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship here last night.

FIBA Asia officials had yet to clear Lassiter and Lutz as eligible players, requiring from Smart Gilas a document that would supposedly satisfy a certain article in the FIBA by-laws.

Still, the Nationals put up a pesky stand, so much so that China coach Rob Donewald seemed to have forgotten the rules of sportsmanship and good behavior at one point in the second quarter.

The coaching staffs of the two teams figured in a near free-for-all at the half in an incident triggered by an alleged nasty word thrown by Donewald at Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.

Security personnel in the venue prevented the commotion from getting out of hand. Donewald later denied throwing foul words on Toroman.

Earlier, Chinese fans pelted the playing court with debris as Qatar – a team affected the most by the organizers’ last-minute ruling on eligibilities – lost another game by default.

Like in their game versus Uzbekistan Thursday, the Qataris gave up all fouls they could from the early goings against Iran.

Some members of international media were at a loss, given the absence of clarificatory information on the matter.

Washington Wizard Yi Jianlian and former Dallas Maverick Wang Zhizhi gave the Filipinos the biggest problem as the two behemoths combined for 36 points and 22 rebounds.

Six-foot-8 guard Sun Yue, who had a brief stint with the LA Lakers, also made his presence felt, coming through with 15 points, seven rebounds, three steals and one assist against defenders inches shorter.

“They (FIBA Asia) didn’t let us play with two key players. It made it simple for them (the Chinese) to play their game,” rued Toroman.

“We used our size advantage and we did two crucial things. We put Zhu Fangyu on the block (against his small defenders) and I thought we did pretty well defensively,” said Donewald.

Obviously thrown off-balance minus Lassiter and Lutz, Smart Gilas at some point had to play Jayvee Casio and Jimmy Alapag at two-spot.

“We really missed our wing guys. They are smart players and it’s good to play with them on the floor,” said Marcus Douthit, leading Smart Gilas’ stand with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Minus Lassiter and Lutz, Smart Gilas lost much threat from the wings, struggling with a 4-of-15 three-point shooting.

The Nationals, however, put up a good measure of defense which prevented the Chinese from stretching their lead.

Korea and Japan roared to second straight wins while Syria and Chinese Taipei broke into the win-column in their respective groups in earlier games. yesterday.

Korea dumped Lebanon, 80-62; Japan trounced Jordan, 92-87; Syria smothered Indonesia, 74-61; and Chinese Taipei tripped Uzbekistan, 81-71.