Gilas Diaries: Sacrifices start to pay off

MANILA, Philippines – Thousand miles away from their families and the comfort of their homes, the Nationals are battling homesickness by sticking together in their mission to bring the country back to the FIBA World Basketball Championships.

Over halfway through the two-week training camp in Lithuania, Gilas Pilipinas is starting to show the fruits of their hard work and sacrifices.

After suffering their first loss in three tune-up games against tough Lithuanian clubs, Gilas Pilipinas celebrated the country’s Independence Day with a big bounce back win over Lithuania’s 20-under national team, 83-75, on Wednesday morning in the Baltic seacoast.

“Still a lot of TOs (turnovers), still shot poorly from 3 (three-point region), but saw a lot +s (positives),” Chot Reyes posted on his Twitter account (@coachot) shortly after the win.

The new bunch of Filipino basketball heroes showed great resolve in fending off the big challenge from the Euro 20-under champ, who were bannered by three US NCAA Division I campaigners led by 6-10 Egidijus Mockevicius, the starting center of University of Evansville.

Before the game, the second version of the Gilas Pilipinas Road to FIBA Asia documentary was launched on youtube. The inspiring video helped the Filipinos recover from the stinging 86-89 loss they absorbed from LSU Baltai.

The day also marked the last day of former Lithuania national team head coach Kestusis Kemzura with the team.

Kemzura, who led the Lithuanians to a bronze medal in the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championships and an eight place finish in the 2012 Olympics, held sessions with the Filipinos for 10 days.

The whole team were appreciative of Kemzura’s help as they are about to wind up their two-week training camp.  

“Final day with coach Kemzura. Very grateful for his help and time,” Gilas assistant coach Josh Reyes posted on his Instagram photo with him (see the photo in Storify below). “We learned something new from him every day. We will miss him.”

The Filipinos will end their six-game road trip with a rematch against the Lithuania’s 20-under team tomorrow (Thursday night Manila time) and LSU Baltai, the team that handed them their first loss in this Baltic sea coast, on Friday.

After that loss to LSU Baltai, the team plunged back to training that included a morning jog and team building sessions which extended up to the wee hours in the morning.

The Nationals continue to battle homesickness with constant communication with their loved ones through video calls and feasting on Filipino dish Adobo, which is being prepared by one of the team’s ball boys.

The team will head home next week and will continue to have regular practice until the FIBA-Asia tournament to held here in the country from Aug. 1 to 11. 

(read also: Gilas Diaries: Nationals suffer first loss; Gilas Diaries: Lithuania camp bonds Gilas together; Gilas Diaries: 2-week Lithuania camp begins)