Photo from Fiba.com
Same lineup, yet Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes hopes to see something different from his charges on Monday against Chinese Taipei in the first window of their Fiba World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifying series.
Reyes did not tinker with the 12-man roster that pulled off a 77-71 decision of Japan on Friday night in Tokyo, but obviously, the firebrand tactician doesn’t want to go through the same scare when they battle the Taiwanese at 7:30 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“Yes, [we’re playing the] same team,” Reyes said in a text message to the Inquirer. “We want to see improvement [compared to our first game].”
After identifying some flaws in the game against Japan, Reyes and his staff decided to stick it out with the same team, leaving Raymond Almazan, Carl Bryan Cruz and Mac Belo in the freezer.
Gilas blew hot and cold against the Japanese, relying on its defense and the guns of Andray Blatche and Jayson Castro in the stretch to keep intact a winning streak against Japan that dates back to 2004.
The Filipinos will be clashing with a Taiwan side that dealt them a very painful defeat in Manila four years ago, with Wen Cheng Tsai and naturalized center Quincy Davis III leading the enemy anew.
Gilas has a deeper bench, and it is this depth that Reyes hopes to maximize as he got little from some of the more established players in his team like June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Calvin Abueva.
Taipei will be coming into the contest fresh from a 104-66 shellacking at the hands of world No. 9 Australia, also Friday.
Gilas will be playing with size against Taipei as Blatche will be joined in the frontline by the 6-foot-10 Fajardo and athletic 6-foot-9 forward Aguilar.
Both Fajardo and Aguilar will be coming off relatively silent games after failing to score in twin digits and combining for just six rebounds against the Japanese.
Castro will surely be a marked man, more so after showing the field how he took over when the chips were down for the Filipinos.
He finished with 26 points on Friday.
Gabe Norwood is also a no-brainer inclusion, as he will again be tasked to put the cuffs on Taipei’s deadliest gun. On Friday, he wound up as one of four players in twin digits in scoring with 10.