What Chot Reyes told Gilas Pilipinas after shocking SEA Games loss to Indonesia
HANOI – Gilas Pilipinas landed on unfamiliar territory after being dethroned as the Southeast Asian Games kings, losing to Indonesia in the gold medal match, 81-85, of the 31st SEA Games at the Thanh Tri Gymnasium on Sunday.
Head coach Chot Reyes had the difficult task of trying to lift his team’s spirits in the locker room, just moments after losing their first SEA Games gold medal match since 1989.
Not trying to take anything away from the difficulty of the loss, Reyes settled on patting his boys on the back for the work that they have done.
"First of all, I thanked them for their effort, for giving their best," Reyes said after the game.
"And I apologized for not preparing them well enough to get the job done," he added.
Gilas was looking poised to claim their 14th straight crown in the biennial meet after bulldozing the competition in their first five games.
But the Nationals met their match in a retooled Indonesian side that shot well from 3-point land.
Now that the Philippines’ streak has ended, Reyes has told his wards it's time to reset and pull themselves together.
"I said that this time we're going to meet a lot of adversity and regardless of how painful the adversity is, we just need to find a way to bounce back, to recover and stand up," said Reyes.
In the Games here in Hanoi, only one of the four available gold medals landed in the Philippines' lap with the women's squad ruling the 5x5 tournament despite their 93-96 loss to Malaysia earlier today.
The Philippines also failed to defend their gold medals in 3x3 where the men's squad settled for bronze while the women's side fell out of the podium entirely.
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