Gilas huddles at center court after practice. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
TAIPEI – Gilas Pilipinas took another blow to the face on Saturday when Andray Blatche decided to go back to the United States to attend the funeral of his uncle, leaving the Filipinos without their pillar as they start their campaign in the Jones Cup on Sunday.
“He left this (Saturday) morning,” National coach Tab Baldwin said of Blatche, whom he practically ruled out in the nine-day event where the Filipinos, starting on Sunday against bitter rival Chinese Taipei-A, will be playing eight straight games.
Already without the most talented local big man in the PBA in June Mar Fajardo, who begged off because of injury, the Philippine Five has become even smaller with Blatche needing to attend to that serious family matter back home.
“That’s life. We have to keep better with whoever we are and whomever we have. We just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best,” added Baldwin.
“Maybe next weekend, and that’s a maybe,” Baldwin said as to the scheduled return of the 6-foot-11 former Brooklyn Net in the NBA. “I don’t know if he’ll play any (games here). Maybe one, maybe two. But no more than that.
“We have been snake-bit.”
Blatche’s uncle, a brother of his mother whom he was very close to, died two days ago.
“It’s out of everybody’s control,” he said of Blatche’s departure. “It definitely doesn’t help us and it doesn’t help him in terms of the improvements he has been making (physically).”
Baldwin’s main concern is that the break will backtrack whatever gains Blatche has had since coming back to Manila last Aug. 3, when he showed up with a beer belly after a long layoff from competitive action.
And Baldwin certainly hopes that this is the end of the series of bad fortunes that have come the team’s way, most especially since the Fiba-Asia Olympic qualifier for which this team was assembled for, is practically right around the corner.
“The team is very determined to prove everybody wrong and go against the seeming bad luck that has gone our way,” he said. “It’s true, we have been snake-bit and it hasn’t been easy handling all the curve balls that have come our way.”