Gilas Pilipinas did away with the final game of its preparation to make it to the Fiba Asia World Cup Qualifying on Wednesday night in the same emphatic manner that it had done in the first four.
And with the squad fully prepped, coach Chot Reyes couldn’t care less if the Filipinos rip Indonesia to shreds.
“All we need is a ‘W,’” Reyes said, moments after a 107-52 thumping of Vietnam that sealed the do-or-die tiff with the Indonesians on Thursday for the Southeast Asian Basketball Association title, which also gives the champion the right to represent the region in the qualifying proper starting in November.
“We’re not concerned with the margin of victory. We just want to get to the Fiba Asia,” Reyes said after getting five players in twin digits led by Matthew Wright’s 19.
Team Philippines started off slow against one of the weakest teams in the tournament, as the Filipinos played without Andray Blatche for the first time.
The Filipinos, though, kicked their game to high gear starting the second and, like in their previous matches, blew the enemy away with a barrage of baskets from inside and out as Calvin Abueva and Raymund Almazan scored 16 each and Troy Rosario and Jio Jalalon combined for another 22.
Reyes said that Blatche tweaked a hamstring in a 55-point blowout of Thailand on Tuesday and rested the 6-foot-11 NBA veteran for the title game against the Indonesians at 7 p.m. also at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The multititled coach is bracing for their toughest fight, most especially after Fiba had cleared Indonesia’s naturalized player Jamarr Johnson and the United States-born forward Arki Wisnu for their last two games.
Johnson scored 17 points and led Indonesia to a 123-50 ripping of Burma (Myanmar) in an earlier game.
“We know that it is not a roster that you take for granted,” Reyes said, referring to the Indonesian lineup. “That is why we built the team that we built, exactly for this game.”
Wright drained five triples and went 7-for-9 from the field overall, and got a challenge from Reyes during the interview after he played his finest game as a national.
“The key for him now is consistency,” Reyes said. “Can he shoot that way when there are higher stakes and against tougher opposition?”