CHANGSHA – On hindsight, Palestine couldn’t have grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and eventually won the battle off the boards if Andray Blatche and Marc Pingris didn’t pick up early fouls.
Pingris drew two fouls just at the outset of the game while Blatche incurred two successive infractions midway through the second quarter.
The Star Hotshot rebounding machine picked up a third as he was barely back in the game in the second half.
Due to fouls, Pingris was able to play only six minutes and 38 seconds, including a few seconds coming in cold at endgame.
Gilas coach Tab Baldwin fended off a question why he fielded Pingris cold in the homestretch.
“He (Ping) was put in there because we’re being killed off the boards. So I put him and Del (Ranidel de Ocampo) to get rebounds with Andray (Blatche),” said Baldwin.
“You just can’t let teams continue to get so many possessions. They (Palestinians) have 83 shots in a game. In a 40-minute game, that’s unheard of, that’s two a minute,” Baldwin pointed out.
“From a tactical standpoint you make moves, but sometimes they don’t work. That’s the truth. You can’t ignore the trend of the game either,” Baldwin added.