Gilas in must-win duel vs Georgia
GILAS Pilipinas had one last look at Georgia on Wednesday when the world’s 23rd-ranked squad got destroyed by host Latvia, 83-55, in the opening game of their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.
Coach Tim Cone and his 11man crew know it will require a lot of grit, no-quit attitude and welloiled execution of its plays to beat Georgia, which Gilas meets at 8:30 p.m. Philippine time on Thursday.
As of press time, Gilas is playing world No. 6 Latvia, which is gunning for a sweep of Group A and a spot in the crossover.
San Antonio Spurs big man Aleksander Mamukelashvili was the lone player from Georgia to score in double figures with 14 points, while Orlando Magic’s Goga Bitadze had foul trouble and scored just seven, with six rebounds.
Both big men, along with the rest of Georgia, are expected to bounce back hard against the Filipinos in an effort to keep their Olympic dream alive.
Handling and beating Georgia will require Gilas guards led by point guard on commission Dwight Ramos, Chris Newsome and CJ Perez to take good care of the ball while orchestrating the team’s flow on offense.
Of course, Gilas naturalized player Justin Brownlee will again be at the forefront of the Philippines’ Olympic hopes, while veteran big man June Mar Fajardo and 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto will have to assert themselves on defense.
Gilas spent its weeklong stay in Europe working to execute the system under Cone.
Part of that is playing two friendly games against Turkey, which ended in an 84-73 loss, followed by a narrow 82-80 decision to Poland.
Still, tons of lessons were learned from those two friendly matches, foremost of which is limiting turnovers as well as reacting quickly on defense.