Gilas hardly sweats it out over Macau

TOKYO – A breeze against Macau at the Ota Gymnasium followed right away by a hard one-hour workout in the adjacent practice hall made up Smart Gilas Pilipinas’ final drive in the group matches of the fourth FIBA Asia Cup here Monday.

Smart Gilas brushed aside Macau, 98-46, and secured No. 2 spot in Group A, sending the team to a quarterfinal knockout matchup with either Qatar or Chinese Taipei.

Stamping their class over their lowly rivals from the former Portuguese colony, the Nationals themselves begged for the one-hour extra session in the practice venue.

“Gusto nilang magtuloy-tuloy ang pawis (They wanted to sweat it out),” said Gilas operations chief Butch Antonio.

Except for the opportunity to continue experimenting defensive ploys and new combinations, Smart Gilas hardly got anything against the Macau team that may not hold a candle even against the Phl 18-under squad.

Already opting to rest Marcus Douthit in the whole match, Gilas coach Chot Reyes also didn’t bother to call a single timeout.

It was a huge mismatch that capped Smart Gilas’ 3-1 win-loss showing in Group A.

Reigning champion Lebanon crushed China, 89-69, late Sunday to put itself in a good position to top the bracket.

Lebanon, the Philippines and China are likely to end up tied with identical 3-1 win-loss records. In such eventuality, the Lebanese, the Filipinos and the Chinese finish in that order after the application of the quotient tiebreak system.

“I’m pretty happy. Before the tournament, I was worried because we only had one full practice before leaving Manila, and it showed the way we started the tourney against China and Lebanon,” said Reyes.

“But except for that, we did well, and I like the energy shown by the team,” Reyes added.

Reyes’ concern is that they’re taking a two-day break just when they have got on a roll.

“We have to make the right balance of giving the team rest while at the same time keeping them sharp,” Reyes said.

The Nationals take a complete rest Tuesday before returning to practice Wednesday in preparation for the quarterfinals Thursday.

Reyes, however, made sure they broke some sweat Monday, thus, the hard practice after the breeze versus Macau.

LA Tenorio, Ranidel de Ocampo, Sonny Thoss, Jeff Chan and Matt Ganuelas started for Gilas, scoring the first 14 points before Macau made their first marker on Lai Ka Tong’s top-of-the-key jumper with already over four minutes into the contest.

But at least, the Macau players showed they can make a shot when left wide open.

Lao Fu In went 6-of-19 from the field and top scored for the losing team with 14 points.

Jeff Chan sustained the momentum of his personal breakthrough versus Uzbekistan Sunday, knocking in four treys and pacing the Filipinos with 18 points.

JayR Reyes, alternating with Thoss at center spot with Douthit resting, fired two triples and finished with 12 markers and nine rebounds. Gary David and Jarred Dillinger also wound up in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Smart Gilas applied different kinds of zone defense and played various combinations, including four guards and a center and an all-big five.

“We finished with a five all 6-5 and above yet they couldn’t get the rebounds,” said Reyes, smiling.