Gilas Pilipinas in the SEA Games 2023. –CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/Ariya Kurniawan | Instagram @ariyakurniawan16
A well-rested Gilas Pilipinas squad high on a key victory that allowed the coaching staff to test-run schemes gets back on the road to redemption in the Final Four of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games men’s basketball tournament on Monday.
But waiting to snare Chot Reyes and his charges is last year’s tormentor Indonesia, which scored an 87-69 win over Thailand to become No. 1 in its group. Game time is at 6 p.m. in Manila, with Gilas hoping that everything it has experienced—and learned about itself—in the three games it has played at the humid and linoleum-paved court at Modorok Techo National Stadium would be enough to send them to the finalé.
“Hopefully we could adjust better in the semifinal,” said Reyes.
Much of those adjustments will be applied to Justin Brownlee, the naturalized ace who was shackled to just 10 points (three-for-13 shooting) by dehydration and a cramping episode during the Philippines’ 79-68 loss to host Cambodia.
Reyes assured that his staff has been devising more ways to allow Brownlee to cope with the playing conditions at the venue.
Brownlee had 12 points and eight assists in the 60-point blowout of Singapore on Saturday, which should bode well for Gilas as Indonesia looms to be a foe as tough as Cambodia with the presence of naturalized players.
Indonesia’s Lester Prosper goes for the basket during the men’s basketball group stage match against Laos at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Phnom Penh on May 10, 2023. (Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP)
Indonesia, which ended the Philippines’ 33-year-long reign in the competition, is parading the likes of Anthony Beane, Jr. and former Philippine Basketball Association import Lester Prosper.
Meanwhile, the women’s team is reaching for the same kind of optimism as it hopes to salvage a silver medal against a perennial contender in Malaysia.
“It’s our last game, so we’re giving it all that we got. No looking back,” he told the Inquirer on Sunday, shortly after his crew held off Thailand, 82-70.
“At the end of the day, we want to go home with a podium finish,” he went on. “Despite our ups and downs, we’ll stick together because we are a family.” INQ