Gilas Pilipinas has been preparing for the 2017 SEA Games as much as they can. And on Tuesday morning, they faced their toughest opponent yet, in the form of the Adamson University Soaring Falcons, for their third tune-up match.
The Nationals had a hard time with the Franz Pumaren-mentored Soaring Falcons, but they still prevailed at the end, 82-77, all thanks to the fightback provided by second-generation stars Kobe Paras and Kiefer Ravena.
“I think it was a nice scrimmage game — it made us do a lot of things, it made us really work hard to try to get the win,” lauded Gilas coach Jong Uichico of the challenge the young Falcons gave them.
“[We did] not just use it as a scrimmage, but use it to see where we are at this point.”
Friendlies like this, according to the veteran mentor, only help Gilas not just in terms of growth, but it also enables them to see things they have to work on. Moreover, scrimmages allow them to correct flaws right away.
“I more scrimmages so we can correct right away, ’cause you can’t see it in practice, but you’ll see it in the game. So, we want to play as many scrimmages as we can,” said the former PBA head coach.
However, when it comes to where the national dribblers are right now, heading into the biennial regional meet in Kuala Lumpur, Uichico admitted that his youthful team is still a few notches far from where they want to be, especially with Carl Cruz and Christian Standhardinger still in Lebanon.
“I can’t say we’re one hundred percent where I’d like to be,” said the 55-year-old tactician.
“We’re probably seventy to eighty percent when we get to the SEA Games, considering that we dont have some of our players.”
