Big load on Dray’s shoulder

Andray Blatche is celebrating his 28th birthday today but it’s not likely he’ll paint the town red. Blatche is in the middle of preparations with Gilas for the FIBA World Cup starting Aug. 30 in Seville and the load on his shoulders is massive.

With the opposition that the Philippines is facing in Group B, Blatche must bring his A-game every step of the way – no slackening, no off-day, no lazy play. He’s the guy whom the entire country is banking on to shore up the middle, to make the Philippines competitive in rebounding. If Blatche works as hard as he did in averaging close to 12 points a game off the bench for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA last season, he can dominate in Seville.

From the Gilas warm-ups, it appears that Blatche could use a little bit of weight loss. He’s the type of player who likes to attack from the outside, using his mobility and mid-range shooting. If he’s not quick enough, he’ll be bottled up. Of course, he can post up and power to the basket but that’s not his strong suit. If Blatche establishes his outside game, the defense won’t know how to control him. Will the opposing bigs move out to stop him? If they do, that will open up the lane for slashers and Blatche has the ability to find cutters.

Gilas will play the up-and-down style in Seville for sure. Coach Chot Reyes knows Gilas is undersized and playing against a lengthy zone in the halfcourt will be a severe challenge. Before the defense sets up, Reyes would like his shooters throwing up threes or slashers attacking the rim. That means Blatche must take care of the defensive boards and shouldn’t hesitate to pitch the outlet. At the same time, he’s also got to help in setting up the offense when the defense sprints back to stop transition.

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In Gilas’ recent warm-up against Euskadi, Blatche seemed to lack energy in the first three quarters and the Philippines fell behind by as many as 24 points at 50-26. Blatche was blocked once, tried to do too much on his own and made only 1-of-7 free throws up to the start of the fourth period. Reyes kept him on the floor presumably to test his resiliency. Blatche had no spring off the pick-and-roll, settled for long jumpers and appeared to be distracted.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Blatche awoke. He put Gilas on his back and presided in a 10-0 surge after the Spanish referees slapped a second unsportsmanlike foul on the Filipinos – first on Beau Belga and second on Gabe Norwood within minutes of each other. Blatche stole the ball at midcourt, scored on a dunk, sank two free throws and fed Marc Pingris for an easy layup. That sequence proved clearly how important Blatche is to Gilas. If he’s working extra hard, good things will happen for the Philippines. But if he’s taking the day off, it’s just bad news all around.

Reyes once said that Blatche has to be dominant on offense and defense for Gilas to even dream of a chance of advancing to the knockout round-of-16 in Madrid. That could mean 30 points a game, inviting double and triple teams and finding open shooters around the arc. If the defense is lured into focusing exclusively on Blatche, Reyes will make the opponents pay with crisp ball movement. On defense, Blatche must be unforgiving in protecting the rim – no easy layups, no put-backs, no penetrators scoring on teardrops.

Gilas displayed tough defense in the second half against Euskadi, also known as the Basque Country national team. The Spaniards were held to only 14 points in the third period and 18 in the fourth, a total of only 32 in the second half compared to 42 by Gilas. Down the stretch, Gilas razed the margin to only six at 64-58 but sputtered on the way to the last minute. Euskadi finished with nine triples and 16-of-19 foul shots to Gilas’ six triples and 10-of-17 free throws. Jayson Castro suffered an ankle sprain in the third quarter and left the game after scoring two points in 11 minutes.

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The Basque Country is an autonomous region in Spain so it doesn’t qualify as a separate nation in FIBA. The Basque coach is Pablo Laso who also calls the shots for Real Madrid in the Spanish premier pro league. For the Gilas warm-up, Laso assembled a cast of 12 including six who played in a two-game series with Senegal in 2012. Basque beat Senegal, 86-74, and lost in the rematch, 82-66. Six players are veterans of the Spanish premier pro league or ACB (Asociacion de Clubs de Baloncesto – 6-7 Ion Kortabarria, 22, 6-8 Julen Olaizola, 21, 6-4 Mikel Motos, 21, 6-0 Mike Uriz, 25, 6-8 Urko Otegui, 33 and 6-4 Lander Lasa, 26.

Others are standouts in the minors – 6-9 Jon Ander Aramburu, 21, 6-9 Unai Calbarro, 25, 6-6 Sergio de la Fuente, 25, 6-3 Ander Arruti, 24 and 6-8 Jorge Bilbao, 19. University of Portland guard Aitor Zubizarreta, 19, was also in the squad. Zubizarreta played on the Spanish All-Star squad that Gilas demolished in first warm-up in Vitoria two weeks ago.

No doubt, if Gilas played with more energy in the first half, the Philippines could’ve and probably would’ve won the game. But Blatche shot only two points on foul shots in the first period, struggled to score five in the second and went blank in the third. With Blatche out of synch, the locals played uninspired. When Blatche was revived in the fourth period, all hell broke loose. In Seville, there must a concerted effort to get everyone to play at a consistently high level. Blatche should inspire his teammates as his teammates should inspire him. Blatche can’t go off on one-on-one forays, leaving his teammates watching. He’s got to involve everyone to play the kind of team game that Gilas needs to score upsets.

As Gilas’ main man, Blatche has the tremendous responsibility of leading the charge with all his heart and soul game in, game out. He’s got the tools to do it. There’s a job to be done starting Aug. 30 in Seville. Blatche must be up to the task.

The scores: Euskadi 75 – Kortabarria 14, De la Fuente 12, Arruti 10, Bilbao 9, Uriz 8, Otegui 8, Motos 7, Zubizaretta 5, Olaizola 2, Lasa 0, Aramburu 0. Gilas 66 – Blatche 16, Pingris 12, Alapag 9, Tenorio 7, Dillinger 7, David 4, Belga 3, Chan 2, Castro 2, Norwood 2, De Ocampo 2, Aguilar 0, Fajardo 0. Halftime: 43-24. Wire reports said Blatche scored 19 and Pingris 10. Monitoring the TV replay, the score didn’t include a Norwood basket in the first period so the final count should be Euskadi 75, Gilas 68.