Key to beating Kazakhs: Strong start, strong finish

MANILA, Philippines - Jeff Chan knows what it would take Gilas Pilipinas to beat Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals of the 27th FIBA-Asia Championship.

“Strong start, strong finish,” said the certified three-point shooter for the Philippines.

Chan was heading out of the Mall of Asia Arena after Gilas scored an ugly 67-55 win over Hong Kong when he spoke to reporters Wednesday.

The former FEU Tamaraw said what happened against Hong Kong should never happen again as the FIBA-Asia tournament enters into its knockout stages. 

“We lacked in defense and hustle. It was good that we picked up the intensity in the second half,” he said.

In six games, Chan had gone 17-of-29 from the three-point area. He was at his best against Jordan and Japan, going 5-of-7 and 4-of-5 and had three each against Qatar and Hong Kong.

Chan chooses his shots well, never on a rampage. In each of the six games he has never attempted more than seven times from beyond the arc.

Each time he hits one, the crowd gets going.

Chan said they can’t afford to relax any single minute against Kazakhstan, which almost beat China in the first round of the preliminaries. 

“We can’t afford a bad start. We can’t relax. We cannot take Kazakhstan lightly. We need a strong start and a strong finish,” he said. 

A victory over Qatar coupled by the latter’s win over Chinese-Taipei arranged Gilas’s quarterfinals matchup with Kazakhstan instead of China.

It may prove to be the break Gilas needs in the tournament that offers three slots to the 2014 World Championship in Spain.

“Personally, I was already thinking China as our next opponent,” said Chan.

But he welcomed the development because Kazakhstan, with injuries to three key players, is not as tough as China, the defending champion.

Still it doesn’t mean that Kazakhstan will be a walk in the park.

“It got a little lighter playing Kazakhstan instead of China because Yi (Jianlian) has returned to action,” said Chan of China’s starting center who sat out four games due to injury.

“We must thank the Lord for this chance,” he added.

“Huwag natin ito palampasin.”