Gilas cagers learned from Australia loss

CEBU, Philippines — National coach Chot Reyes deeply believed his players learned a lot from their game against Team Australia and that the valuable lessons learned could well help them down the road in their journey in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

“I thought we would grow. I thought we grew,” said Reyes in their Melbourne sojourn where the Nationals made a good account of themselves in a long stretch of a 68-84 loss to the host team.

“We’re upset and disappointed that we lost but we’re happy we learned a lot from this ball game just playing the kind of quality of players Australia has, the 40-minute pressure, handling the pressure, handling the physicality,” Reyes also said.

The Gilas chieftain thought they earned positive vibes in holding their own against the tall, well-organized Australian team at least in the first 27 minutes of the game.

“The good thing about this game is now we know that we can take them,” said Reyes.

Gilas plays host versus Team Australia at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan during the third window of the qualifiers in July.

The Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis was impressed of Gilas, noting the Filipinos’ athleticism.

But he said familiarity and consistency were on their side, and “we’re able to wear them (the Filipinos) down.”

Observers noted naturalized player Andray Blatche huffing and puffing in the second half of the match.

“It’s a given that our opponents are taller, stronger and sometimes quicker than us, that’s why we have to play an almost perfect game. No question about our heart, effort and our will to win. But we have to be in our best shape possible and give our ‘A’ game to the max,” said cage legend Allan Caidic on his Facebook account.

“Wala sa condition si Blatche,” said Atoy Co, another legend, also on Facebook.

Flying back yesterday and having only an extra day to prepare for Japan tomorrow, the Gilas coach hopes to draw adrenalin from the home fans to compensate for their fatigue from a long trip from Melbourne.

Reyes said the Japan game was at the back of his mind while playing Australia.

“As much as we want to go all out for the victory, we also have to make sure managing minutes because we know we have to have fresh legs when we play Japan. They’re coming from Tokyo which is just a three-hour trip,” said Reyes. “Good thing, we’re going play at home and we could get adrenalin from the home crowd.”

It’s a must-win game for the Japanese after having dropped all their first three matches in the FIBAWC.

On Thursday at home in Tokyo, they suffered a stinging 69-70 defeat at the hands of the Taiwanese.

Australia has a perfect 3-0 slate, Gilas is at 2-1, Chinese Taipei at 1-2 and Japan 0-3 going to Sunday’s matches. The top three after the double-round home-and-away series advance to the next round.