GREECE JUST TOO MUCH FOR GILAS PILIPINAS
SEVILLE, Spain – No Greek tragedy, no Greeks bearing gifts to beware of on Day 2 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Just Greeks, big and powerful, like the army Odysseus once led against Troy in classical mythology.
Gilas Pilipinas spent the entire 40 minutes Sunday shooting arrows but couldn’t find one vulnerable spot, much less an Achilles heel. Simply put, the Greeks were too tall, too confident, too accustomed with the ways of international play to even care.
And they had the benefit of hindsight after watching Croatia fool around with an early lead against the Philippines Saturday only to get scared out its wits in regulation before escaping in the extra period, 81-78.
In the end, the final shaft to find its mark even came from Greece, an undefended three-point shot at the buzzer by 6-foot-7 forward Kostas Kaimakoglou which gave the 2006 FIBA World Cup silver medalist an 82-70 victory, its second straight at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo to snare a slot in the Round of 16, along with Croatia.
Their lesson learned well against Gilas, Croatia sustained a strong start to turn back Argentina, 90-85, while tall and lanky Senegal, safe with Minnesota Timberwolves 6-foot-11 center Gorgiu Dieng as its last line of defense, downed Puerto Rico, with JJ Barea, Dieng’s Timberwolves teammate, and former PBA import Renaldo Balkman, 82-75, to round off Group B preliminary round matches.
Gilas’ second loss in as many games pushed the Nationals into must-win games with Puerto Rico on Wednesday and Senegal on Thursday while forcing coach Chot Reyes to cautiously ponder the unthinkable against Argentina late Monday.
“Do we rest Andray Blatche (against Argentina) to prepare him for Puerto Rico and Senegal?” said Reyes at the post-game interview. “We’ll think about it tonight and talk about it tomorrow morning.”
The Philippines was to meet Argentina and the Indiana Pacers’ Luis Scola at 5:30 p.m Monday (11:30 p.m. Manila time).
Reyes said they had seriously considered going to their bench against Greece and Argentina to conserve their main unit, with Blatche in it, for a fight to the death against Puerto Rico and Senegal, victories that would mean entry to the second round and a possible knockout match with host Spain and the Gasol brothers.
“Inisip namin, ‘pupuklpok ba kami ngayon at pahinga bukas against Argentina?’ Pero kita mo naman ang tao; pa’no ka naman magde-day off niyan,” he said.
Blatche, the former Brooklyn Nets center naturalized to replace an ailing Marcus Douthit, played 33 minutes and managed 21 points and 14 rebounds despite a pronounced limp and the eyeball-to-eyeball defense of Greece’s imposing frontline, including a pair of 7-footers in Ioannis Bourousis and Georgios Printezis.
But he clearly struggled and at one point took a few minutes at sideline to allow the pain in his right knee to subside while play was halted.
“Old injury na yung tendonitis niya,” said Reyes. “But he twisted it on landing after a hard drive against Croatia kaya sumakit uli. Actually slight twist lang naman pero masakit pag nababangga.”
Remarkably, Blatche, according to Reyes, has refused to make the injury an excuse to sit down.
“Kahit iika-ika, gusto niya maglaro e,” said Reyes.
Prudence could take the better part of valor, however, against Argentina. And if Reyes so decides to give Blatch extra bench time, June Mar Fajardo, who acquitted himself well against Greece, might get extended frontline duty.
Fajardo had 10 points and 7 rebounds in 10 minutes, while Marc Pingris, dwarfed by his Greek counterparts at power forward, added 7 points with 6 rebounds in 26 minutes.
No other Gilas player had more than 5 points, however, as Greece, which opened a 17 point lead in the third quarter, effectively negated the Nationals’ dribble-drive offense, penetration pull-up jumpers, outside shots and second-chance attempts which they used to nearly thwart the Croatians.
With the airspace blotted out by long wingspans, Gilas shot 6 of 22 from 3 point range, with Jeff Chan, the hot hand against Croatia, going 1 of 5.
Greece also pounded the ball inside for 18 of 46 from inside the arc, covering up for its dismal 5 of 22 three-point shooting.“I’m crushed by the loss but still very happy with the effort of my players,:” said Reyes.
Scores:
GREECE 82 – Printezis 25, Bourousis 12, Papanikolaou 9, Calathes 9, Zisis 8, Vasileiadis 6, Kaimakoglou 5, Antetokounmpo 3, Sloukas 3, Vougioukas 2, Mantzaris 0.
PHILIPPINES 70 – Blatche 21, Fajardo 10, Pingris 7, Castro 5, Lee 5, Norwood 5, De Ocampo 4, Alapag 3, Tenorio 3, Chan 3, David 2, Aguilar 2.
Quarters: 20-10, 37-27, 58-45, 82-70.
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