GILAS PILIPINAS OFF TO SPAIN
Gilas Pilipinas hit Vitoria, Spain Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) smack in the middle of the Fiestas de la Virgen Blanca festival in honor of the Basque city’s patron saint.
It was a good time to relax their minds and bodies after their 11-day boot camp in Miami, Florida and before playing tougher tune-up matches in the run-up to the 2014 FIBA World Cup set in six cities of Spain from Aug. 30 to Sept. 14.
Gilas will set up camp in this Alava province capital city, holding twice-a-day practices with weight training in between while bracing up for a pocket tournament in Antibes, France on Aug. 15-17 also to be participated in by France, Australia and Turkey.
A separate pocket tourney in San Sebastian, Spain and outside tune-up matches also await the PHL national team before finally proceeding to Seville two days before the World meet.
In Seville, Gilas Pilipinas competes with Argentina, Greece, Croatia, Puerto Rico and Senegal in Group B play of the World Championship.
The Philippines has had its historical connection with Seville, from where Ferdinand Magellan started the first circumnavigation of the Earth in 1519.
Gilas Pilipinas enters the crucial phase of its buildup where coach Chot Reyes and his staff are to decide on their Final 12.
With Larry Fonacier left in Manila on account of an injury, four are to be pruned down from the Gilas pool list that includes naturalized players Marcus Douthit and Andray Blatche, PBA stars Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, LA Tenorio, Paul Lee, Gary David, Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, Jared Dillinger, Marc Pingris, Ranidel de Ocampo, Jay Washington, Japeth Aguilar, Beau Belga and June Mar Fajardo.
Barring any injury, Blatche could well be the naturalized player that suits up with Gilas in the World meet.
Tweets by members of the team indicate good impression of Blatche.
On the way to Spain, the Gilas coach posted on his own Twitter account a photo of Blatche watching on his laptop the Gilas-Kazakhstan match during the last FIBA Asia Championship.
In Miami, Gilas played two tune-up matches and won both.
The PHL training team clobbered the Miami Pro-Am Team, 95-74, Sunday (Saturday in Miami) and then topped the Elev8 selection, 93-84, with a steady performance that spoke well of the progress of its buildup. (SB)
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