Gilas to lean on speed, heart vs tough Aussies

Gilas Pilipinas won’t be leaning on its speed alone but a big fighting heart as well as it tries to defy overwhelming odds against a tall Team Australia in Group B play in the FIBA Asia World Cup qualifiers in Melbourne tomorrow.

The Filipinos, backstopped by naturalized Andray Blatche, hope to pull the rug from under the well-organized Australian team, ranked No. 10 in the world and unbeaten since the merger of the Oceania and Asian regions.

“We don’t lack in effort and in commitment. We lacked the time, we lacked in preparation but our fighting heart is still there,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes after their last practice session before their departure for Melbourne Monday.

Short in manpower and preparation, Reyes made the most of their two-week training, doing their final practice behind closed doors.

“Ginawa namin closed door yung last week of practice dahil gusto namin siguraduhin na iyong ginagawa namin sa Gilas ay hindi naibubulgar at hindi nalalaman ng ibang tao (We made it closed doors to be sure that what we are doing won’t be leaked out),” said Reyes.

It’s not lost on Reyes that the Aussies had scouted them during their game against Japan and Chinese Taipei in the opening frame of the qualifiers.

“Our assistant coaches have spent a lot of time going over the play and the specific talents of their playing group,” said Australian coach Andrej Lemanis in a fiba.com report.

Lemanis said the unique challenges that the Philippines could present were part of the discussion and process in selecting their Final 12.

They kept 10 players from the November window and tapped in Olympic veteran Kevin Lisch and Pert Wildcats forward Jesse Wagstaff.

Lemanis himself keenly follows Philippine basketball. “Basketball is the number one sport in the Philippines. They produce highly skilled players and play well together as a team,” he said.

Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Jason Castro and Gabe Norwood are tipped to banner the Gilas 12 against Australia.

Other pool members now in Australia are Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Alas, Jio Jalalon, RR Pogoy, Matthew Wright, Allein Malicsi, Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz and cadet player Abu Tratter.

Gilas is guard-heavy while Australia features a balanced lineup with an average height of six feet and six inches and average age of 28 years old.

They’ve been a dominant team from their title conquest in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup to their routs of Japan and Chinese Taipei in the first window of the qualifiers last November.