MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas will be tested against Angola on Thursday night (Friday morning Manila time) without their top two “breakdown” players.
Paul Lee (glutes) and Jayson Castro (achilles) were both ruled out to play against Angola as Gilas take precautionary measure while waiting for the results of their MRI.
Castro suffered a suspected Achilles tendon injury in their 75-66 loss to Euskadi where he was limited to just two points in 11 minutes while Lee sat out for the second straight game. Lee has not played since Gilas’ 22-point loss to Australia last weekend.
“None yet,” was Gilas team manager Aboy Castro short reply to Philstar.com’s query on both players’ MRI results as of this posting.
“They won’t be able to play [vs Angola],” Castro added in a text message sent Wednesday in Spain (Thursday Manila time).
Gilas coach Chot Reyes earlier told News5 that they may tinker their game plan with Castro and Lee out of commission since they are the main catalysts of their dribble drive offense.
“They are the best players in the team who can break down the opponents’ defense. We have to reconsider our strategies and tactics,” Reyes was quoted saying.
With a decimated lineup, the Gilas players are rallying behind their fallen comrades as they race against time to get the team healthy and ready for the FIBA World Cup which is set to tip off in two weeks.
“Di kami puwedeng mawalan ng pag-asa. Isa pa, nawala sa amin yung mga key players namin so pray at usap lang ginagawa namin,” Gilas forward Marc Pingris told Philstar.com after the nine-point loss to the Basque national team, their fourth straight.
“Dapat times two ang effort. ‘Yun ang gagawin namin sa laro dahil kulang kami,” he added.
Both Castro and Lee will have more time to recuperate from their injuries as the scheduled game after Angola got cancelled.
“Mexico changed their plans,” Castro, the Gilas team manager said.
The game against Mexico in Vitoria, Spain was supposed to be played on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).
Gilas will wind up their tuneup games against Dominican Republic (Sunday in Spain, Monday Manila time) and against Egypt (Monday in Spain, Tuesday Manila time).
The rest of the national team’s tuneup games dubbed as “Gilas Pilipinas vs The World” will be aired on TV5 as follows: vs Angola (12:30 pm Saturday), vs Dominican Republic (8pm Monday) and vs Egypt (8pm Tuesday).
Related story: Gilas loses 4th in a row; Castro, Lee to undergo MRI