Gilas Pilipinas head coach Yeng Guiao is generally satisfied with how his wards fought the import-laced Mighty Sports-Philippines in a tune-up match Monday evening, even if they have only had a few days of preparations under their belt.
The Nationals were already down by six, 79-85, after Hamady N’Diaye’s freebies with 1:37 left in the game, but Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez connived inside the final minute by hitting back-to-back triples to end the match in a draw.
“Coming into the game I didn’t really expect much. But guys really showed good effort,” said Guiao, who fielded in an all-Filipino lineup as naturalized center Andray Blatche will arrive late this week.
“I’m happy with the result.”
Guiao lauded the way his Gilas played on defense, even if they haven’t really worked on their defensive schemes — their practices since June 17 have all been about working and acclimatizing on the team’s offensive sets.
“They showed good effort on defense — we haven’t really practiced defense the past few days that we practiced but with the stock knowledge that they have I think we can still improve on a lot of departments,” Guiao said.
Ultimately, the decorated mentor liked the way the flagbearers relied on “natural chemistry” in playing versus Mighty.
“We just lived off our natural chemistry and it’s really nice to look at,” said Guiao. “Nobody really was trying to dominate the game, the ball was moving around … Encouraging naman yung resulta.
“Even the new guys are contributing.”
That, however, doesn’t mean everything is fine with Gilas already. The outspoken bench strategist admitted that they still have lots of things to work on, particularly memorizing the plays that they have been working on.
“Nakakalimutan nila yung mga plays namin,” said Guiao, who’s been with Gilas since last year. “As confused they sometimes get, because they’re really good, they’re able to salvage the situation even when the play is bad.
“As confused as they sometimes get, we’re still able to manufacture a good game. Our execution is going to get better in a few weeks, hopefully before we leave for Spain, and when Andray [Blatche] comes in.”
