Following their unexpected loss to the Dominican Republic, Gigi Datome and the rest of Italy are redirecting their focus toward a “very important game” against Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
“A very important game to prepare [for]. Prepare to move forward to the second round. Nothing. We’re gonna rewatch for sure the game today,” said the 35-year-old Datome.
Despite entering the game as favorites, the 10th-ranked team in the world faltered against the Karl-Anthony Towns-led Dominicans, who heated up in the third quarter, resulting in an 87-82 victory over the Azzurri on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Datome attributed the Dominican team’s red-hot shooting, with 16 successful three-pointers out of 39 attempts, leading to an impressive 41-percent shooting rate.
However, the Azzurri are now focused on their upcoming match against the host nation. The host team was coming off a disheartening loss to Angola on Tuesday, and Italy needs to secure a victory at 8:00 p.m. to secure a spot in the Round of 16.
The former Boston Celtics forward emphasized that Italy must maintain belief in themselves despite the letdown against the Dominican Republic. Datome also cautioned his teammates that securing a win against a motivated Gilas squad will be as challenging as the game against the Dominicans.
“Prepare but keep on believing in ourselves, of course, keep on trusting each other. And we know it’s gonna be hard [against Gilas] like it was hard today, like it was hard two days ago. Nothing different,” said the former Euroleague champion.
Datome also revealed that Italy’s preparation against Gilas will center around containing NBA star Jordan Clarkson, who is currently averaging 24.5 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists per game in the Philippines’ first two World Cup games.
“Of course, the Philippines, like the Dominican Republic, they have a single great player, and all around them there’s a good team,” said Datome.
“So for sure, it’s very important to limit this player, you cannot stop them, they’re so good, you can only limit them with teamwork and pay attention to the others because they are all good players and have a game plan, try to execute it, stick with it and at the end of the day, we try to do the same thing.”
