Team Gilas battle cry in Changsha: ‘Rio or bust’

MANILA, Philippines - The members of the Gilas Pilipinas were all committed to accomplish the mission of getting to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next year as they stepped up their buildup for the FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China slated Sept. 23-Oct. 3.

“Every single person’s goal is Rio. It’s not about going there to play well. It’s going there to bring home the hardware,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin as quoted by TV5’s Carlo Pamintuan on his Twitter account.

“Our goal is to win every single game out there. We’ll have all the information we need about all the teams out there,” Baldwin said.

Each member of the Gilas team, except Andray Blatche and Sonny Thoss, yesterday attended a conference with the Cebuano scribes held in between two practice sessions at the Hoops Dome in Lapulapu City.

Gilas pitched camp in Cebu so the Nationals could stay focused on the final week of preparation “Two-a-day practices in Manila means sitting inside the car maybe four hours. Cebu takes that problem away from us,” Baldwin cited as another reason for their Cebu jaunt.

In Cebu, the Nationals are billeted at the Crown Regency Suites and Residences which is five minutes from the Hoops Dome.

In their third day in the Cebu camp, the Nationals went into weight training in the morning in Plantation Bay then trooped back to the Hoops Dome for their evening practice.

Their morning practice yesterday was twice delayed when the goal gave in from thunderous jams by Blatche and Calvin Abueva.

Blatche, however, was still in the process of losing extra poundage to be in best shape possible in time for the Asian joust.

From today, the Nationals still have four practice days before leaving for Changsha on Monday. They return to Manila Friday night, take a break Saturday and hold their final practice session at the Meralco Gym Sunday.

Gilas Pilipinas plays Palestine on Sept. 23, Hong Kong the next day, then Kuwait in Group B competition on the preliminary round of the FIBA Asia.

Meanwhile, Asi Taulava noted the current Gilas team has one advantage the previous Gilas groups didn’t have.

“The big difference is that coach Tab had most of us in Day One. When we trusted the system, it started to work for us,” said Taulava, among the late additions to Gilas 1 that finished fourth behind China, Jordan and South Korea in 2011 in Wuhan.

Terrence Romeo, meanwhile, gave a testimony on several things he’s learning from Baldwin.

“Naglaro ako sa PBA na marami akong hindi alam. Maraming hindi naituro sa akin. Ngayon unti-unti kong nalalaman (I have still a lot of things to learn in the PBA. I’m learning them here ),” said Romeo, among the Cebuanos in Gilas along with Dondon Hontiveros and Thoss.

Baldwin commended his players for their dedication.

“We should never underestimate the sacrifice these guys are making. The guys are not here because their teams allowed them. They’re here because they are passionate for Gilas,” said Baldwin.– With report from Nelson Beltran