It was a wild weekend for Gilas fans, as the senior Gilas team won resoundingly against Chinese Taipei (93-71) while the Gilas Under-17 team lost just as resoundingly to Croatia (97-75).Here are three thoughts on the contrating fortunes of our national teams.
Thought #1 The New Gilas.
Who would have thought that the Gilas teams would finally be anchored on skilled big men, instead of talented guards? While past Philippine teams have had its share of outstanding big men, Gilas team shave almost always been undersized, and relied more on the speed and shooting ability of its guards and wings to offset our opponents' size advantage.
But not anymore. With JunMar Fajardo coming into his own, the continued improvement of Troy Rosario and Raymond Almazan (if he ever returns to Gilas), and the entry of new Fil-foreigners like Troy Rike and Abu Tratter, the Gilas seniors team are just as big as their foreign counterparts.
The same goes for the Gilas U-17 squad, who currently has Kai Sotto who, at 7-1, is the biggest player in the Under-17 tourney. He is also joined by behemoth Carl Tamayo (6-7), Raven Cortez (6-7), and Geo Chiu (6-8).
Thought #2 Our Gilas Big Men Are Putting The Compeition On Notice.
Let's go back to our big men on both teams. JuneMar Fajardo has been increasingly our main source of offense, as he scored 15 points in the 1st game against Australia and 17 points in the first Chinese-Taipei game and 22 in the second one.
Andray Blatche didn't add too much int he scoring department in the first four games but put in the work on the boards and on defense. He also came on strong in the second Chinese-Taipei game, with 13 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. That's a monster game.
On the Under-17 team, Kai Sotto put on a spectacular display, scoring 23 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, with 1 steal and 2 blocks. This despite the Croatians constantly double-teaming Sotto. His frontcourt mates Raven Cortez (13 points, 3 rebounds) and Carl Tamayo (12 points, 8 rebounds) also shone against the highly skilled Croatian frontcourt.
Thought #3 Our Guardplay Is Still The Key To Victory
Yes, big men are no longer a problem for us. But the Gilas teams still thrive on team play, ball movement, and stellar guard play. That's why the seniors team have been met with success, with the like of Jayson Castro, Terence Romeo, the now-suspended Kiefer Ravena, Jio jalalon, and Matthew Wright making sure we are still able to set up our plays.
Castro and Romeo are doubly important, because their ability to get buckets in a hurry as well as get into the paint for easy points have made life so much easier for the like of Fajardo and Rosario. When the opponent is wondering whether he'll be in a Romeo crossover-like-crazy highlight play or left behind in the dust by Castro on his way to another uncontested lay up, the defense also loosens up on our threepoint shooters, giving Wright, Norwood, CBCruz, and Malicsi the space to let go from rainbow country,
This is what is missing from the U-17: heady guards who don't make a lot of mistakes. In fact, if you look at the Croatia game, Gilas actually outrebounded their opponents 46-36...but Gilas also had 28 turnovers compared to Croatia's 16. That translated to a 30 points off turnovers for Croatia, compared to the Philippines' 11, a 19 point advantage. Given we lost by 22, had we not turned over the ball so many ties, it would have been a winnable game.
The main culprits for these turnovers were Rence Padrigao (6), Terence Fortea (5) and Gerry Abadiano (4). That's 15 turnovers, morre than half our total, from just three players, all of whom play in our backcourt. If the Gilas U-17 hope to win, they need to cut down on these.
That being said, the Gilas teams have been making the nation proud. Let us continue supporting them to the very last whistle.
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