The bread was served cold and without a butter
Gilas 3.0 vs. Netherlands
Netherlands national team just crushed the heart of our very own Gilas Pilipinas national team to the score of 89-62.
Good and Bad. It’s good that our national team is experiencing this kind of heartbreak at this early stage of their preparation to the Olympic qualifier in China on Oct.
The bad thing about this loss is that it shows that you can’t deny the fact that Gilas Pilipinas is not yet ready for major tournaments.
Gilas 3.0 put up a good first half, managed to have an 8point lead in the 2nd quarter and finished it with just a point deficit in favor of the taller opponents.
The major losing factors were outside shooting and many turnovers during the 3rd quarter.
The Netherlands started their unstoppable run by capitalizing 21 turnovers that Gilas Pilipinas have committed in the 3rd period.
It has been turn over after turn over and just managed to convert a split free throw and just a single 3pt basket courtesy of Asia’s best point guard Jason Castro William.
It’s not a secret that the Gilas’s go-to-guy Andre Blatche and the decent 3point shooting combination is known as the team’s ”bread and butter” however In today’s game the bread was served cold and moreover without a butter.
It’s been a lackluster performance by Blatche and very poor outside shooting which is very uncharacteristic of Gilas Pilipinas.
If there’s anything positive in today’s game that is the quality of the newcomer such as Calvin and Romeo. Calvin doing it all from playing D, rebounding “one of these was follow up rebound to his own missed and a basket” and yes, if you are still wondering whether the Beast can play an international brand of basketball, he was able to contribute 12pts and 6 rebounds coming off the bench on the other hand Romeo did his thing breaking the defense with his shaky explosive moves and dishing out to an open team mates “something that he must master soon” and did several step back jumpers.
It is always bad to lose by 20pts but as I have said it’s a good thing that our national team get to taste this as early as now so that the coaches headed by a kiwi American tactician Tab Baldwin can figure out the necessary adjustments for future important games.
These adjustments are expected when they play against the home team Estonia on August 22.
Having only 6 holdovers from 2014 Fiba World cup and with a new head coach How far do you think our current national team can go?
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