Gilas Pilipinas head coach Yeng Guiao called on his wards to step up from the get-go amid another slow start that doomed their chances in a close 68-74 loss to the visiting Lebanon, Friday night at the UP Epsilon Chi Center in Diliman, Quezon City.
Though the Nationals displayed their never-say-die mantra anew, Guiao was not impressed with another lackluster start. He rued the setback as the main culprit for their struggles in their first three practice games so far.
For Guiao, Gilas cannot afford to play only 20 minutes of good basketball in actual games, especially at home against Kazahstan and on Nov. 30 and Iran on Dec. 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“It’s getting to be a habit on our end that we play very loosely in the first half and sa second half tayo bumabawi,” said Guiao.
“I think it does not work that way.”
True enough, just like its first two scrimmages against Jordan earlier this week, Gilas failed to heat the engine up right away. Amid a sizable home crowd in Diliman, Gilas succumbed to an organized Lebanese squad to trail 28-44 at the half.
The lead even ballooned to 46-28 early in the third frame, before Marcio Lassiter spearheaded a 21-4 uprising to inch on within 59-60 early in the final canto. The game turned nip-and-tuck, only for the Philippines to crumble in the end game.
Gilas previously fell to a 15-26 hole against Qatar, before revving it up in the second half to take a 92-81 win.
As commendable as their late game push was, Guiao is not satisfied yet.
“You have to make an effort for forty minutes. An effort of twenty minutes is not good enough, and we only do that last two games, three games that we played,” he emphasized.
“Actually, nag-start ito sa Qatar pa. We had a bad first half and it was only in the second half where we pushed ourselves. I guess coming into this game, we always want to be aware and conscious that we need to make a better effort early in the game.”
Guiao also urged Gilas to stick with the system after they were distracted by physicality – something noticeable in their first three matches.
“Second is we still need a few more games to get used to physicality. Nawawala tayo sa execution natin, nawawala yung timing natin, nawawala yung rhythm natin ‘pag binabangga bangga na tayo,” he cleared.
True enough, emotions ran high anew this game, just two days after their scrimmage against Jordan was called off. Fortunately for Guiao, he still has a week left to whip Gilas into a well-prepared squad physically, and more importantly, mentally.
“We’ll go to practice tomorrow and we’ll have exactly one week before we play Kazakhstan. And I’m hoping the one week is enough for us to get used to the different brand of game,” he said.
“Iba kasi talaga yung pinanggalingan natin sa PBA, iba talaga yung physicality ng international.”
Gilas battles Lebanon anew on Sunday as its last tune up game, before going on a daily practice all the way to the critical fifth window of the 2019 FIBA Wold Cup Asian Qualifiers.
