It’s totally known by many that a hastily-formed Gilas Pilipinas started off its 2018 Asian Games campaign in Jakarta on such a rousing note when they fired on all cylinders and dismantled Kazakhstan by a whopping 37 points.
But even with history on their side, Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao doesn’t want to be too comfortable with it.
The fiery tactician remains wary of the Kazakhs when they lock horns anew this coming Friday in the commencement of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers’ fifth window that will take place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
What makes Guiao worried is that he doesn’t think his wards won’t be able to emulate the way they played during that August encounter, especially now that the pool has much more different faces than the ones he had in the Asiad.
From having the core of his former PBA team Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, the only ones familiar with him are Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga, and Paul Lee. The rest have little to no experience of playing under the 59-year-old, seven-time champion coach.
“Mahirap na ulitin yun. Masyadong maganda yung laro natin nung time na yun,” said Guiao after Gilas’ practice, Monday.
“If we can beat them by one point, I’ll be happy, especially now we’re still trying to get our cohesion going.
“Iba talaga yung Asian Games team natin although admittedly that’s less talented. Mas madali ko na-jell yung team kasi more than half them already played for me. Ngayon nabawas,” added the decorated bench strategist.
Moreover, Guiao is also bracing for the retaliation Kazakhstan will bring due to the beatdown they have received.
“Of course I hope we can repeat that pero I think we should expect the worst eh.
“We should expect that they’ve already made their adjustments seeing what they saw in the Asian Games,” said Guiao, then on an interim basis in the Asiad.
But as much as having new faces can be a major drawback as far as jelling is concerned, Guiao also looks at it on a positive manner, saying that it might be an advantage for Gilas for the Kazakhs may not know about the new ones.
“Advantage natin actually nag-iba tayo ng lineup halos. Baka hindi nila masyadong kilala ‘tong sina June Mar [Fajardo], or sina Greg [Slaughter], or sina Marcio [Lassiter] — ngayon lang yang mga yan — sina Arwind [Santos],” he said.
“Baka hindi nila masyado kilala, baka maging advantage natin.”
