FOSHAN – Far from its best, a flat Gilas Pilipinas botched “The Italian Job.”
Unable to keep up with an Italy side they felt they had a chance of shocking, the Filipinos suffered a heavy 62-108 beating in a nightmarish start in the FIBA Basketball World Cup here.
The Filipinos got bludgeoned by the fire-breathing Azzurri in front of President Duterte, who was watching on the skybox of the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Arena, hoping to see a miracle in the Group D opener of basketball’s showpiece.
Mr. Duterte had earlier remarked that the Philippines stood no chance against the taller Azzurri.
And the high-powered Italian crew led by NBA players Marco Bellinelil of the San Antonio Spurs and Danilo Gallinari of the OKC Thunder and Euro League veterans Luigi Datome and Daniel proved the President right.
Torching Gilas with six early triples, the world No. 13 Italians unleashed a staggering 26-2 salvo to rip the game apart. Meo Sacchetti’s red-hot charges kept their foot firmly on the accelator and enjoyed their largest lead at 53. Italy shot from treys at an amazing 15 of 31 clip (48 percent).
Gilas coach Yeng Guiao had wanted to keep it close, praying for the Filipinos to play their best basketball and the Azzurri to play their worst.
He didn’t get both.
“We knew coming into the game we’re the underdogs but we would have wanted to play it in a better way and even if we lose, we would have wanted to play better than we did,” said Guiao, who rued their turnovers in the early goings that fed Italy’s searing run and his wards woeful three-point shooting (3-of-23).
Andray Blatche shot 15 points and collared 10 rebounds with rookie CJ Perez sharing scoring honors with 15 as well. Amadeo della Valle and Datome fired 17 apiece for Italy while Gallinari and Bellini had 16 and nine, respectively.
And as it stands, Gilas’ chances of meeting its goal of advancing to the second round are slim at best even if it takes care of business in the next two games against heavy favorite Serbia tomorrow and Angola on Wednesday.
Robert Bolick, the other Gilas rookie in the FIBA World Cup, couldn’t hide his disappointment after the one-sided contest.
“Hindi maganda (not good). Bad trip,” said the young hotshot.
The scores:
Italy 108 – Datome 17, Della Valle 17, Gallinari 16, Belinelli 9, Tessitori 9, Biligha 8, Brooks 8, Hackett 7, Filloy 7, Abass 2, Vitali 2.
Gilas Pilipinas 62 – Perez 15, Blatche 15, Fajardo 9, Bolick 6, Ravena 5, Rosario 2, Almazan 2, Aguilar 2, Pogoy 2, Lee 2, Barroca 2, Norwood 0.
Quarterscores: 37-8; 62-24; 85-39; 108-62