Gilas Pilipinas is decidedly keen on preparing as much as they can for their FIBA World Cup 2019 Qualifiers rematch with the Australia Boomers on Monday, as they have resumed practices Saturday evening at the Philippine Arena.
This, even if they just arrived in the country on Saturday afternoon, and less than 24 hours after their impressive 93-71 victory over the upset-hungry Chinese Taipei at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taiwan.
Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Abueva, Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro, June Mar Fajardo, Jio Jalalon, Allein Maliksi, Gabe Norwood, Roger Pogoy, Terrence Romeo, and Matthew Wright were all present for the hour-long, light session.
“Kailangan namin magpapawis today to get rid of the lactic acid from last night’s game,” Gilas head coach Chot Reyes told Tiebreaker Times. “But more importantly, it’s the mental preparation more than anything else.”
Gilas isn’t resting on its laurels despite the win, as the team is preparing for the Boomers’ possibly lashing out.
The Aussies are hard-pressed to get out of the Philippine Arena with the W in their bag, since they failed to do that in Japan last Friday – they suffered a monumental 78-79 upset at the hands of the Akatsuki Five.
The Gilas-Boomers clash will be for the solo lead of Group B. Both teams are already assured of a spot in the Asian Qualifiers’ second round, but the opportunity to leave the group stage as the leader is hard to pass up.
Game time on Monday is at 7:00 PM.
