Thailand’s Chitchai Ananti, left, defends Gilas Pilipinas’ Terrence Romeo. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Thailand’s Chitchai Ananti, who is leading the 2017 Seaba Championship in scoring, was forced to his worst game of the tournament in the Thais’ lopsided loss to Gilas Pilipinas on Tuesday night.
Averaging 24 points per game, Ananti was a marked man and Gilas head coach Chot Reyes knew just what to do with the 26-year-old guard.
“We knew that he was Thailand’s top scorer and that guy can flat out play. He scores in a lot of ways, so we challenged our defenders to lock him down,” Reyes said.
The Philippines’ defensive game plan worked to a tee as it held Ananti scoreless, missing all of his three field goal attempts in 15 minutes.
“We did our best. We pushed Gilas up to a certain point,” Ananti said through a translator. “We really didn’t expect to win but we’re hoping to get the least amount of point difference.”
Ananti admitted he struggled against the Gilas defense, mainly because of the host team’s size with Andray Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Raymond Almazan manning the paint.
“In the past games, Thailand wasn’t challenged by bigger opponents. Coming to play against Gilas, everyone’s really tall and it’s harder to go inside and create my usual rhythm,” he said. “Their coach prepared the defensive plan well. I was set out on an island and didn’t get the ball.”
“Now I know what I need to improve in the future to get better and be able to get away from their defensive plans,” he said.