“The goal is to compete.”
That is the national team’s realistic goal as they are about to take part in the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge Cup.
Reyes said such after Monday night’s tune-up game of Gilas 5.0 against PCBL team SCTEX, winning by a huge margin, 106-83. The scrimmage was their final match before flying to Iran Tuesday night.
“And that means every possession, we will do our best. We will focus. We will execute our gameplans whether offensively or defensively.
“And that is how we will gain positive experience. That’s what we want eh,” he furthered.
The Nationals’ coach rued that Gilas 5.0 also sometimes attempt to show everyone that they can slug it out with the taller and more beefed up Asian squads, despite being filled with PH’s best and available amateur players.
“Because people say we’re a weaker team, we don’t want to develop bad habits. [Yung tipong] okay lang, lalaro lang kami dun kahit ano mangyari, ayaw natin yun. That will be a negative experience, so we want everything to be positive,” he stated.
When asked how prepared the amateur-laden unit is as they head into the FIBA-sanctioned cagefest, Reyes said that the team have been able to get things going for each and every player on the roster, given the limited time they had.
“With the time that we had, we’re as prepared as we can be.
“Siyempre ideally we could have had more time, but rather than dwelling on the stuff we didn’t have – time, trips, and tune-up games – we just want to focus on how all of these players prepared,” he shared.
“These guys really gave all their effort. They never missed practice. They were never late. Even though they had practices in the morning, they came in Gilas practices in the morning ready to work hard. So I’m really impressed with our guys.
“We have brave young men who readily answered the call when the country needed them.
“Even though they had other things, they really sacrificed a lot and they were all game and willing to do whatever it takes to prepare as best we could,” Reyes enthused.
As in the previous Gilas Pilipinas squads, Gilas 5.0 will also live by the poetic mantra of “PUSO” in this year’s Challenge Cup, according to Reyes.
“By giving our puso, then hopefully we’ll have a chance to win. If maka-tsamba kami, win a couple of games then we might make it to the quarterfinals.
“Who knows? But [then again], we just want to compete in every possession,” he reiterated.
The FIBA Asia Challenge Cup 2016 is set to tip off this week on September 9 and will wrap up in September 18. The tournament will take place in Tehran, Iran.
