THE PHILIPPINES’ Jimmy Alapag vies with Greece guard Vaggelis Mantzaris during their Fiba World basketball championships match. AFP
SEVILLE, Spain—Gilas Pilipinas found out the hard way that Greece doesn’t have an Achilles heel.
Tall, big and too good, the Greeks literally dwarfed the Filipinos in every position and used just one early burst to take command and post an 82-70 shellacking Sunday night (Monday morning in Manila) as both countries remained on opposite ends of the pole in Group B play of the Fiba World Cup at Centro Deportivo San Pablo here.
The Greeks broke away with a 10-point run from an 8-7 game, led by as many as 17 points before fending off every uprising that the courageous Filipinos could come up with to tie Croatia at the top with a 2-0 record.
It was the second consecutive setback for the gallant Gilas five, which went down, 78-81, in overtime to Croatia on Saturday afternoon. The Filipinos are in the bottom with Puerto Rico, which took an 82-75 loss to Senegal earlier.
Still, being able to just stay in the game and not being blown off the floor by the world’s fifth-ranked team was commendable for the Filipinos, who have continued to make heads turn in this event which they have not been a part of in the last 36 years.
“Of course, I am crushed by the loss,” Gilas coach Chot Reyes told a handful of international reporters after the late game. “But I am still very happy with the effort of my players.
“If you had told me before this tournament that we would be able to stay three-and-a-half quarters with the fifth-ranked team in the world, I would have been very happy.”
Both teams had to be separated by proverbial cooler heads at midcourt after the match as Reyes and his wards felt insulted by the Greeks who went for more baskets even with the outcome already decided.
Andray Blatche gave it his all despite an obvious limp because of a right knee injury, making two early baskets as the Philippines stayed within one after the first four minutes.
But the Greek defensive wall starved the Filipinos from thereon with Gilas struggling to put up shots and was made to practically use up the 24-second shot clock each time. The Filipinos scored just one three-pointer inside the final 5:42 of the first to trail, 20-10.
Greece, starring the unorthodox forward Goergios Printezis, methodically broke away from there, posting a 46-29 lead with 7:55 left in the third period.
Blatche then scored seven unanswered points to usher the Philippines within 10 once more, but that was the best that the Filipinos could do as the Greeks scored almost at will from inside and out by exploiting every advantage they had in the matchups.
“We had no illusions that because we played well last night (against Croatia) that we would catch Greece off guard tonight,” Reyes said after getting 21 points and 14 rebounds from Blatche and 10 points off the bench from June Mar Fajardo.
“We knew they would come in very well-prepared and very tough,” continued Reyes. “We played a Greek team that was at its best or near its best.”
Printezis, who plays a lot like Mac Cardona but is well-built at 6-foot-8, finished with 25 points and 7-foot-1 center Giannis Bouroussis had 12 points and 10 rebounds before chasing LA Tenorio after the game and causing the postgame ruckus.