It did not come as a surprise that the Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team got deserved commendation in its losing stand against the tall and rugged Dominican Republic squad, and not for its win over tough Egypt.
Gilas lost to Domincan Republic, 86-79, in Guadalajara in what could go down as the national team’s most balanced stand in its tuneup series for the Fiba World Cup.
Before that, Gilas turned away Egypt, 74-65, on Sunday.
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There was quality scoring in the losing game against the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, but national team coach Chot Reyes singled out his team’s muscular defense, as typified by the tall, wide-bodied June Mar Fajardo.
After their final tuneup match on Tuesday, coach Chot Reyes stressed the significance of his team’s defensive toughness by saying they could only look forward to a solid stand against Croatia in their first official outing in Seville on Aug. 30.
Reyes added they could next try to trip Senegal and hope for the best.
Other teams in the Philippine group are Greece, Argentina and Puerto Rico.
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Actually, Fajardo, whose anemic defense in the awful Gilas loss against Ukraine last week was openly decried by Reyes, had provided able posting support to naturalized Andray Blatche in the win against Egypt.
What’s truly heartwarming though was big boy Japeth Aguilar, a defensive failure against Ukraine and other tune-up opponents, but who also got the thumbs-up from his coach at the close of the national team’s tune-up swing.
Curiously, there has been no clear sign if Blatche would be able to bring out the defensive demon in him once Gilas Pilipinas starts it’s do-or-die stint on center stage of the Fiba World Cup war.
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Of course, Blatche had to be sidelined, or was fielded sparingly in other matches, after he suffered a foot injury in one rugged outing.
Coach Reyes seemed convinced the six-foot-eleven NBA veteran would strut to his full defensive worth during the Fiba tournament proper.
As for big boys Fajardo and Aguilar, Reyes may no longer have to display his open displeasure about the duo’s defensive anemia, now that this has obviously been cured with stern reminders that saw Reyes threatening to bring in the tested big defender Beau Belga to strengthen the national team defense line.
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Maybe this need not be told but, as borne by results, objective criticism of the Gilas big boys’ defensive anemia had obviously paid its dividends.
It’s like this: Contrary to misinformed information, the criticism of the national team’s defensive weakness was not meant to demean the lagging national team members.
It was actually meant to help bring out the defensive fierceness from those concerned.
Shameless bootlicking, like it or not, can’t in any way help remind national team members that this is a full-scale sports war they’ve entered, where only the fearless and truly dedicated survive and shine.