Greg Slaughter was a major factor in Gilas Pilipinas’ semis-clinching 110-69 victory over Vietnam in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, Friday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The 7-foot slotman was far from his sluggish self during the Filipinos’ debut versus Singapore last Wednesday, imposing his presence inside to finish with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Slaughter helped Gilas finds its flow going in the second quarter. He joined forces with Vic Manuel and Kiefer Ravena to give their side a 44-30 lead, opening the floodgates that saw them lead by as high as 44.
It was a solid showing for Slaughter, especially since he has yet to fully recover from a thumb injury. Still, the Barangay Ginebra center assured that there’s nothing hindering him.
“It’s good, you know. It’s still sore but definitely I can play. Nothing that is hindering me,” he said.
This edition of the SEA Games marks the return of Slaughter to the regional biennial meet after eight long years. Prior to this, he was part of the Sinag Pilipinas team back in the 2011 tilt in Jakarta.
Back then, Slaughter’s best game of the tournament came at the expense also of the Vietnamese as he made a game-high 20 points to lead the amateur-laden crew to a big 107-53 victory.
That was the second win of Sinag and the Norman Black-coached squad swept its way to the gold medal.
Slaughter may have now earned lopsided wins over Vietnam but he lauded how much it has grown basketball-wise as compared to when he first played against them years ago.
“Compared to 2011 these teams really come a long way. They got way more players, they got a different coach. It’s just night and day how far they’ve come from 2011 when we played them,” he said.
For Slaughter, Vietnam is a good example of how much ASEAN countries have improved in basketball, and that means nothing but good things for the sport in the region.
“A lot of teams are on the rise now. Even some countries have their own basketball associations now. The Vietnamese have the VBA, they’ve been doing that for three or four years,” said the Cebuano.
“You can definitely see the competition is rising in Southeast Asia. Hopefully, as the Philippines, we’re also improving our game year by year,” he continued.
“I think that’s also evidenced by being in the World Cup for two times now. It’s just nice to see not only our neighbors, but ourselves are all on the rise in Southeast Asia.”
