Loss to Puerto Rico bitter pill to swallow

SEVILLE, Spain – Losses to Croatia and Argentina were painful but fine. But the setback to Puerto Rico was disappointing and hard to swallow.

That’s the consensus among Filipino fans avidly following Gilas Pilipinas’ journey in Group B competition of the 2014 FIBA World Cup here.

“We played beyond expectation in our close losses to Croatia and Argentina. Against Puerto Rico, we lost a game for us to win,” said Lope Altover, an accountant heading a 10-man Filipino group that came all the way from London.

“We battled Croatia and Argentina with their full mighty lineups. We nearly upset them. And then we let slip away this one against a Puerto Rican side virtually down to a seven-man rotation,” said Doy Pascual, from the same London-based Filipino group.

Truly, coach Paco Olmos had a core group down to seven men with skipper Carlos Arroyo, starting wingman Angel Vassallo and 7-1 center Daniel Santiago sidelined by injuries.

But there’s NBA guard JJ Barea who proved unstoppable for the Filipinos, sizzling with 14 points in the first half, adding six in the third period before completely taking over the game in the crunch, scoring 10 of their last 12 points.

“We’re killed virtually by one man. JJ Barea proved his worth as an NBA player. Dapat yan ang pinatupi ni LA Tenorio,” said Alex Seraspe, a Madrid-based Filipino recalling Tenorio’s flagrant infraction on Kostas Papanikolaou in the Gilas-Greece game.

“I don’t usually commend individual players but I have to praise Barea. He’s a leader not only on the court but also on the hotel, the dugout,” said Olmos of their big hero in their come-from-behind 77-73 win over Gilas Pilipinas.

“He’s an NBA player, he just kept beating us off the dribble, off ball screens, making tough shots after tough shots. He just put his team on his shoulders and said, ‘No, we’re not losing this game,’” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes of Barea.

“Perhaps, that’s what we lacked – a player who will put his team on his shoulders and say, ‘We’re not losing this game, give the ball to me,’” added Reyes.

But Reyes took responsibility for the loss.

“Every game we played, we had a chance to make the game-winning play and couldn’t deliver. Perhaps it’s our inexperience in situations like this, not only the players but also me as a coach,” he pointed out.

Another Filipino fan thought Chot Reyes did a perfect coaching against Argentina, but fared badly against Puerto Rico.