In one timeout situation in the final quarter of Gilas Pilipinas’ match versus Iraq Thursday, head coach Chot Reyes was fuming towards big man Christian Standhardinger, who fouled out after incurring a technical foul.
The veteran mentor was so mad at the Munich, Germany-born forward that he did the unthinkable — he threw the 6-foot-8 bruiser out of the game, never to return anymore.
As it turns out, Reyes did not like what he saw from Standhardinger. Looking at the game itself, he was not having it towards the Iraqis and their antics, that he retaliated through simple motions that led to fouls.
Standhardinger, who was slapped his second technical foul for a cheap shot on Iraq’s Dhulfiqar Al-hchaimi past the midway mark of the final period, finished with just four markers and three rebounds in over nine minutes of action.
“I didn’t like the extra stuff my other guys did, so I took them out of the game,” explained the 53-year-old mentor after the cadets’ 84-75 victory at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
All that he did, iterated the outspoken mentor, was to simply teach a lesson to Standhardinger and all his players that playing dirty and hurting opposing teams is not and will never be a part of Gilas basketball.
“There’s a fine line between being tough and being downright dirty. That’s not us. That’s not Gilas basketball,” said Reyes. “I told them in the huddle that I don’t care if we lose the game, but we’re not going to play dirty.
“We’re going to be strong, we’re going to play physical, but we’re not gonna cross that line.”
