Gabe Norwood sits at the bench along with Gilas teammates. Photo from Fiba.com
CHANGSHA CITY, China – Gilas Pilipinas did not only learn its lesson well from that shock setback to Palestine in the Fiba Asia Championship on Wednesday night, members of the team want that bitter taste to stick around some more.
“It (frustration) still has to be there,” guard Gabe Norwood said, moments after a 101-50 ripping of Hong Kong, which prompted many to ask if some of the pain was taken away after the great bounce back.
READ: Castro takes charge as Gilas routs Hong Kong in FIBA Asia
“If the frustration is not there anymore, then we didn’t learn a thing,” he went on. “If it just goes away, it means that it (a 75-73 loss) doesn’t mean anything to us.”
The Palestinian upset is now considered one of the biggest in Asia, according to some members of the Gilas coaching staff, mainly because Palestine was a newcomer compared to the Philippines, which started this tournament at No. 3 in the Fiba power ranking.
“I admit, we didn’t have the heart to win the other day,” said defensive man Marc Pingris in Filipino. “Now we know that we have to come out with more than 100% of our effort each game.
READ: Gilas Pilipinas ’embarrassed’
“This is the national team we are playing for, and we made a mistake the other day and we learned from it,” Pingris said.
Gilas still has to play lowly Kuwait to end its first round assignment, and fans back home can expect the same effort against the Kuwaitis which the Filipinos displayed in ripping Hong Kong apart.
“We can’t look past Kuwait now. We looked past Palestine and we lost,” Norwood said. “We have to take care of business. We’re not done yet.”