And it ended the way we all thought it would, with Gilas winning comfortably, barely bothered by a game Thai team that got off on the wrong foot and could never get back on track.
Gilas coach Jong Uichico experimented with his lineup, which meant different players starred for Gilas this time around, which just proved how deep this pool was.
Here are my five impressions from the game:
Impression 1 - Dwight Ramos is not the only young Gilas who is ready to play in the PBA today. Juan Gomez de Liano, Matt Nieto, and, to a lesser degree, Justin Baltazar and Javi Gomez de Liano all made cases for being players who can make an impact for PBA teams right here, right now.
Impression 2 - Oftana just showed why he belonged in this Gilas team. He bring an intriguing combination of strength, shooting and physicality. At 6'4", the NCAA MVP is a good sized international SG with range and may just be physical enough to not be abused by international SF's if he has to slide to that position.
Impression 3 - The Jaydee Tungcab as PG experiment started, and ended tonight. The PG position is said to be the hardest to master and many successful college PGs find it difficult to transition into a capable professional PG. Taking a college swingman and trying to make him one is an even tougher ask. This same predicament is Kiefer Ravena's biggest stumbling block in the G-League (and will be Thirdy's as well) and it's just not fair to ask a less talented, albeit equally determined, player like Tungcab to make that transition.
Impression 4 - Navarro, Tungcab, and Mike Nieto may be easy cuts from hereon. The trio are among those who were deemed, for want of a better word, questionable additions to the team and for the most part, they've been respectable. but after seeing what Ramos, Oftana, and Javi Gomez de Liano, were able to do in these two games plus the impending return of Allyn Bulanadi and the naturalization of Angelo Kouame, these three are the most likely to get cut.
Impression 5 - Thailand will be a force in Southeast Asian basketball. Don't laugh. These last three games are not indicative of their talent. Remember, they lost to Indonesia by a mere 14 points despite not having their top scorer Tyler Lamb (28ppg) and Indonesia having Lester Prosper, a former PBA import, on the squad as their naturalized player. If Lamb played for Thailand, the Thais win this. If Prosper did not play for Indonesia, the Thais win this. If the Thais and Indos played without Lamb of Prosper, the Thais win this. Don't count the Thais out, they're a team on the rise. Oh, and watch out Chanatip Jakrawan, the MVP of the Thai league who just posted 34 points and 12 rebounds on Gilas, despite being the focal point of our defense. He's going to be a handful.
