Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes explained the inclusion of Carl Cruz and Baser Amer in the lineup that will take on the visiting Australia on Monday, saying that they need more size to better keep up with the Boomers.
Cruz stands at 6-foot-4, while Amer is six-flat. Gilas needs the height to fight the Aussies, who have an average height of 6-foot-6. Their tallest player in the lineup is Milwaukee Bucks center Thon Maker, who stands 7-foot-1.
“Now, for Australia, we need more size. So we need a bigger guard, which Baser gives us. And we need a bigger shooter which CBC gives,” said Reyes on Sunday evening, moments after the Nationals’ practice at the Philippine Arena.
Amer has earned a reputation as one of the PBA’s elite guards with the Meralco Bolts. Meanwhile, Cruz – despite few minutes with the Alaska Aces – has been known as a steady gunner for Gilas since his stint in the 2017 William Jones Cup.
It was thought that Reyes and Co. would stick to the unit that he used last Friday that outclassed the Chinese Taipei by 22 points, but they surprised many on Sunday afternoon. Allein Maliksi and Jio Jalalon were cut instead.
“We needed Jio and Allein for Chinese Taipei because we knew that we would need Jio to hound the pesky Chinese guards, and we need Allein to be an extra zone buster because we expected Chinese Taipei to play a lot of zone.”
But in reality, they hardly needed the two. With defensive specialists Gabe Norwood and Roger Pogoy doing their job excellently, their Taiwanese counterparts folded, and it ultimately led to the one-sided affair.
Jalalon and Maliksi were only used late in the game, when everything was all but settled. The 5-foot-9 Jalalon still managed to have two points, and his basket in the closing moments settled the final score, 93-71.
