If Gilas Pilipinas head coach Mark Dickel had his way, he’d prefer that the Nationals’ FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers opener versus Thailand on February 20, here at home, would push through.
But the Kiwi mentor also understands that there are things much, much bigger than a basketball game.
On Friday, FIBA announced that it had postponed three games in the Qualifiers’ first window — including the Filipino dribblers’ clash with the Thais — due to the current coronavirus outbreak. Tiebreaker Times was the first to break the development.
“Obviously you wanna play games, but at the same time, bigger things are going on in the world than that game,” said Dickel moments after Gilas’ practice, Friday night at the Meralco Gym in Pasig.
“You can be cognizant of the fact that other governments are making decisions if they think of putting their citizens at the safest possible position.”
Dickel is also looking at the positive side of the postponement. For him, it has given Gilas more time to prepare for its match with another Southeast Asian contender Indonesia on the 23rd.
“I think it’s a good thing. You know, like, you get more time to really have everybody understand A) What their roles are; B) What is expected; and C) What they’re gonna do out there,” he said.
“Any time you get more days to do that, the games are gonna look better so… Look, I’m happy about it. We get two or three more days to prepare so we just gotta take advantage of those days.”
FIBA has yet to announce the new dates for the postponed games. But Dickel said that all his chargers remain prepared for whenever their game versus Thailand will be.
“Whenever that game is, we’ll definitely be ready. SBP, MVP, everybody is totally committed to making this thing work. We’re not gonna be unprepared coming into any of these games.”
