Pingris and Thoss deny entry pass to Haddadi. Photo by Musong Castillo.
TAIPEI – Gilas Pilipinas fell short yet again in its latest clash with Iran, but the lessons learned in a 74-65 defeat to the Iranians in the Jones Cup on Thursday night will be most useful later on.
“It’s a game on the surface but has more importance for the coaching staff,” Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said after getting to know the Iranians a little more since the Filipinos would surely need to go through the defending champions in the 2015 Fiba Asia Championships to win it later this month.
“Both teams will improve over the next couple of weeks and a lot can still happen,” Baldwin said.
The Filipinos, who won this tournament in 2012 with Marcus Douthit and with Iran playing with Hamed Haddadi, fought hard despite being severely undersized but got into a drought in the final 3:41 which practically gift-wrapped Iran’s fifth win in six games.
When asked by international media if the presence of Andray Blatche would have helped the Philippine cause, Baldwin said: “Today’s game is about today’s game and not without Andray or anybody else.
READ: Andray Blatche to rejoin Gilas at tail end of Jones Cup 2015
“We’re not looking for Andray to solve our problems for us,” Baldwin said.
One of the things that Team Philippines learned was that it would need to do a better job in stopping Haddadi, the 7-foot-2 NBA veteran who scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Haddadi battled through double, even triple-teams in a sterling effort and freed up his team’s outside guns as Iran connected on seven triples with old hand Hamed Afagh making three of them.
It was a physical contest with the Filipinos refusing to move an inch. Though play was stopped several times because of roughness, Iranian coach Dirk Bauermann said that “it’s all good and part of the game.”
“As long as punches are not thrown, it’s all good to me,” he said. “A little bit of scuffling is nothing to me.”
Asi Taulava had his first two shots blocked by Haddadi but still went on to finish with 12 points to lead all Filipino shooters. He also had eight rebounds. JC Intal and Jason Castro added 10 each.
Calvin Abueva ignited a spurt bridging the third and fourth periods that had the Filipinos coming with four several times, the last at 65-61 after an Intal triple, before the Gilas offense went cold.
The Filipinos would only score on two Marc Pingris free throw from there.
Gilas, now at 3-2, winds up its schedule with games against the Wellington Saints of New Zealand, USA Select-Overtake and Chinese Taipei-B in that order starting Friday.
The scores:
Iran 74 – Haddadi 22, Afagh 13, Farid 9, Jamshidi 9, Kamrani 7, Mohammad 5, Davarpan 4, Davari 2, Kardoust 2
Gilas – Taulava 12, Intal 10, Castro 10, Romeo 8, Tautuaa 7, Abueva 6, Pingris 4, Hontiveros 3, Norwood 2, Ganuelas Rosser 2, Thoss 1, De Ocampo 0
Quartescores: 17-14; 34-31; 54-47; 74-65