Most of the time, experience trumps youth.
And that’s exactly what happened Thursday night (Friday morning, Manila time) when Gilas Pilipinas suffered a 67-94 shellacking in the hands of the Dominican Republic in the 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.
It’s not to say that the Filipino cagers went down without a fight. They actually went ahead by as much as eight points in the second quarter, but like what the old saying goes, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
The young team crumbled to the veteran smarts of the physical Caribbean side, who were powered by the dreaded troika of long-time national team member Victor Liz, Gelvis Solano, and Michael Torres Cuevas.
So overwhelmed were Gilas that it only scored a grand total of two points in a span of over eight minutes, while their foes made 24 — yes, 24 points — on the way to a commanding 77-53 lead midway through the fourth.
Even if Baldwin burned four timeouts during that span, the young team could not find someone who would take charge on offense and also make the stops on the other end.
“We didn’t adapt well tonight,” lamented Philippine team head coach Tab Baldwin moments after the defeat.
“We tried things that aren’t even in our playbook tonight, and nothing was successful tonight.”
Gilas already had an inkling that it will be up for a test against Dominican after seeing them play physical against Serbia. They lost there but the Eagles were bruised and battered, causing three players to miss the Philippines game.
That’s what they got in their encounter when Melvyn Lopez’s wards leaned on its experience to come back and win to complete the semifinal cast. But for Baldwin, the beating they received wasn’t really physical.
“I told the team after the game that this wasn’t necessarily a physical beating that we got, I think it was a mental beating from Dominican. I think our mental toughness was really questioned tonight,” he said.
“And it’s something that we have to work on, it’s something that we have to train a little bit tougher. We have to be a little bit better prepared for what some of these international teams are going to bring against you.”
The defeat meant the end of the Philippines’ bid to return to the Olympics after over five decades. But as disappointing as it was, the multi-decorated bench tactician remained proud of his young men.
“There’s a lot to be proud about with these guys on a day-to-day basis,” Baldwin said. “We’ve talked an awfully long time about not worrying about results and worrying more about performances and we certainly can’t be proud of the performance tonight and we’re not. But overall, there’s a lot to be proud about. This is a very, very young team, most people may know this.
“This is a team with no professionals in it at this point. And this is a program that we’re working on to build for the future. So we’ve got some, maybe some results that have flattered us a little bit over the last couple of weeks, and some performances that may have flattered us as well. But certainly, tonight was a lesson, and what we don’t want to be.”
