One game down for Gilas, but still a long way to go.
Gilas Pilipinas opened up its Southeast Asian Games redemption tour with a 94-49 thumping of Malaysia on Tuesday at the Morodok Techo Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The nationals leaned on a balanced attack as multiple players chipped in, with Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser scoring 15 points and Justin Brownlee adding 11 in limited playing time.
But the star of this game was Michael Phillips, the prized Filipino-American recruit out of De La Salle University, who notched 9 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. He also added 5 steals and 2 blocks in a splendid all-around effort of the bench, which he punctuated with a pair of ferocious two-handed slams.
Also giving a good account of himself was Jerom Lastimosa, who alternated with team captain Chris Ross in directing the up-tempo Gilas offense that nearly breached the 100-point mark after a lukewarm start.
After the game, Chot Reyes applauded Phillips’ and Lastimosa’s efforts for doing exactly what the the coaching staff expects them to do.
“They’re the energizers of this team. Their job really is to be the spark off the bench, especially Mike Phillips, who’s really there for his activity,” Reyes said of the 6-foot-8 Phillips. "He has to be really constantly moving around and giving us a lot of opportunities with his defense and offensive rebounding."
Reyes also highlighted Lastimosa’s role as Gilas’ “only speedy guy,” and how each one has a role to play if the nationals are going to reclaim SEA Games gold in hoops, especially against squads that are potentially loaded with naturalized players.
“Everyone on this team has their own respective role, but we all have only one job. But everyone has to play their role,” Reyes said.
Against Malaysia at least, it appears everyone on Gilas got the memo—especially the energizers, Phillips and Lastimosa.
(With reports from Carlo Pamintuan, One Sports)
(GM)