Chinese Taipei raring to get back at Gilas
AS much as the Philippines looks to book a victory when it takes on Chinese Taipei on June 29 for the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the host country seeks to the same, or even more, to propel its cause.
Taking on Gilas Pilipinas at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium on Friday, Chinese Taipei (1-3) said it is going hard to get the win over the Philippines (3-1) in their second Group B encounter to officially secure a spot in the next round of the tournament and exact some form of revenge for the 90-83 defeat it was dealt by Gilas in the first game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in November last year.
The hosts are banking on a shored-up roster and the support of their hometown fans to get the better of the visiting team.
“All I can say is ‘This Is My House.’ This time, we also have some stronger players joining us. As long as we control our fouls, I believe that we will win this time!” Chinese Taipei player Huang Tsung-Han was quoted as saying by the official FIBA Web site.
“Playing at home has always been very important. In home games, the whole country will cheer for the players, and it will stimulate the players more. It will strengthen our desire to achieve victory,” added Mr. Huang, who was not part of the Chinese Taipei squad the met the Philippines the first time around but was a valuable cog in his team’s lone win so far in the tournament against Japan, 90-89, in February where he scored 11 points.
Good thing for Mr. Huang and the rest of the Chinese Taipei team, the importance of their remaining games in the first round of the tournament are seemingly not lost to the Chinese Taipei fans as reports have it that tickets for them are already sold out.
“The tickets being sold out just means that we cannot lose! If we want to proceed to the next round, everyone will have to perform well. We need more active defense, and the most important thing is we have to grab those rebounds,” the young gun said.
For the third window of the Qualifiers, Chinese Taipei will be backstopped by players from the Chinese Basketball Association like former Super Basketball League most valuable players Chou YiHsiang and Liu Cheng, upcoming stars Chen Ying- Chun and Hu Long- Mao and veterans Tseng Wen-Ting and Yang Ching-Min.
In the first window against Gilas, Chinese Taipei did a good job capitalizing on the struggles of the Philippines, in particular naturalized player Andray Blatche who only had six points albeit finished with 14 rebounds and five blocks.
But Chinese Taipei could not complete the task as it faltered in the end, giving Gilas a window to take advantage of and pull off the win.
Naturalized player Quincy Davis III showed the way for Chinese Taipei against Gilas with 20 points and nine rebounds while Yi-Hsiang Chou and Jhen Huang added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
The Gilas Pilipinas- Chinese Taipei game, which is set for 7 p. m., will be shown live on ESPN5 with livestream on ESPN5.com.