Alapag says missed shots part of ‘growing pains’
Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
TAIPEI – Jimmy Alapag, one of the finest outside shooters that ever put on a Gilas Pilipinas jersey, dismissed Wednesday night’s dismal shooting of the Filipinos in a Jones Cup Invitational duel with South Korea as just “one of those days.”
And he’s not worried of seeing it happen again.
“No, no,” Alapag, one of Chot Reyes’ assistants, said before tipoff against Iraq on Thursday afternoon as Gilas tries to pick up the pieces of an 83-72 loss to the Koreans brought about by a 1-for-26 clip from three-point range. “Those shots just didn’t drop. You just hope it doesn’t happen too often.”
READ: Korea spoils Gilas bid
“That’s basketball, sometimes you get open shots and the ball just doesn’t really drop (to the hoop),” he went on. “That’s just part of the growing process of this young team and you know that they are going to get better.”
Korea played the Filipinos with the zone defense practically all game, and when an opponent plays the zone, it more or less gives the impression that the enemy is giving more respect to Gilas’ outside game more than
being concerned with its outside guns.
“They showed us zone before,” Alapag said, referring to some games in the past when he made the Koreans pay for that gambit.
READ: We need to make our outside shots in Lebanon – Reyes
“But that was a different time (when I was playing),” he said with the smile when asked if Korea would have played Gilas zone two nights ago had he been in the roster.
After that woeful stint, the Filipinos buckled down to work early on Thursday in the shootaround just to get their confidence back.
“When you struggle from the field, shooting, the best thing to do is get back to the gym and shoot,” Alapag, talking from experience, said “We (coaching staff) saw a lot of shots drop during shootaround and I expect us to make a lot of shots today.”
Gilas was to play formidable Iraq at 5 p.m. on Thursday, needing no less than a win to fan the fading flames of its title chances here.
