Photo from Fiba.com
Gilas Pilipinas took an early punch to the gut and never recovered in a 108-62 beatdown at the hands of Italy at the start of the 2019 Fiba World Cup Saturday night at Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center in China.
The Philippines didn’t get anything going from the get-go while Italy played like a well-oiled machine on both ends of the floor.
The hot-shooting Italians, ranked 13th in the world, pounced on the Filipinos’ sloppy play and poor defense to race to a commanding 37-8 advantage in the first 10 minutes of the game, a gap that widened to as much as 53 points.
Danilo Gallinari showed why he’s a certified NBA veteran with 16 points, 14 of which coming in the first half where he went perfect from the field including 4-of-4 from downtown for the Azzurri.
Luigi Datome was also on fire with 17 points on a perfect 7-of-7 clip from the field in just 16 minutes of play.
Italy shot 72 percent from the field in the first two quarters and 58 percent for the game. The Italians also assisted on 30 of their 39 made field goals and only turned the ball over 13 times.
Rookies CJ Perez and Robert Bolick were the few bright spots for the Philippine team, which saw its slim chances of advancing to the next round go down the drain following the blowout defeat.
Fearless, Perez led Gilas with 15 points that went with three assists while Bolick added six points but more importantly, showed the ability to make plays against world class competition.
Andray Blatche also scored 15 and grabbed 10 rebounds but had nine of Gilas’ 23 turnovers.
Gilas takes on No. 3 Serbia next on Monday night. Led by NBA star center Nikola Jokic, the Serbians dumped Angola, 105-59.