The Gilas coach is not easy to impress.
Gilas Pilipinas finally registered a win in the team’s final buildup for the FIBA World Cup. After losing to Estonia and Finland, Coach Chot Reyes and his wards got the breakthrough victory against Ukraine’s under-20 team on Saturday in Kaunas, Lithuania.
It was another close match the entire way until Gilas pulled away late for the nine-point win.
That being said, the longtime Gilas mentor wasn’t totally sold on his team’s showing, particularly on the defensive end.
“To be very honest, although we won this game, I still think there were a lot of defensive lapses,” Reyes told One Sports' Carlo Pamintuan.
The veteran tactician then took it further and got brutally honest as he rated Gilas’ performance against the young cagers of Ukraine.
“If I were to rate it, I think this is the worst game that we’ve played since the start,” said Coach Chot.
“I know this is the game that we won but I thought there was a lot more to be desired,” he elaborated.
In conclusion, Reyes made sure to still commend his charges for being able to execute the things that they have been working on during practice. In that aspect, the Gilas drillmaster was pleased by his squad’s effort.
“In our overall journey in the process, we focused on cutting down on our turnovers, not giving up offensive rebounds, and then, being able to execute the defense that we worked on yesterday. I think we were able to do that,” Reyes said.
Gilas is scheduled for a rematch with this same Ukraine squad today, Sunday, 5 p.m. Manila time.
Aside from that, the national team is scheduled to face teams from Lithuania and Latvia still as part of the preps for FIBA’s flagship event.
(With reports from Carlo Pamintuan, One Sports)
(GM)