Coach Chot Reyes is seeing some efforts bear fruit.
"No matter what we do, we cannot be bigger or taller than the other team."
Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes was candid in telling Noli Eala on Saturday about the combinations they were working on ahead of the FIBA World Cup.
The Philippine men's national basketball team had experimented with a smaller lineup in a tune-up game against a taller Senegal team on Friday. They lost, 72-64.
"The advantage we can exploit is our quickness. Kaya lang, kailangan maka-rebound at makadepensa tayo," Reyes said on Radyo5's Power and Play.
"I thought we were able to do that, as long as solid defense natin in other areas."
The Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament is a pocket tournament in China, which Gilas Pilipinas is using to test different combinations and player rotations. In the first game, AJ Edu and Rhenz Abando balled out for Gilas to take the win against Iran.
They would have to face the two squads again on Sunday and Monday.
For Reyes, the game against Senegal allows Filipinos to get a feel of playing against taller players, especially since the Philippines will first take on the Dominican Republic on August 25 at the Philippine Arena.
The Dominican Republic will be bringing in 6-foot-11 Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"That's why gusto namin kalaban itong malalaki, malaking development sa preparation namin ito," Reyes said, along with scouting reports for player tendencies and team tendencies.
It also helps that Dwight Ramos is familiar with the core of the Dominican Republic, having played against the Victor Liz-led squad during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
But Reyes is seeing some positives after all their preparations.
"I think the kind of defensive effort that we have been working on from Day 1, we're seeing the fruits already," he noted. "So, we really like the way the defense is coming along."
After the pocket tournament in China, Reyes said they will be focusing on game preparations and specific schemes for the FIBA World Cup.
"The good thing is we're moving forward. From the start to today, I think we're seeing a better understanding of what we want to do in defense. We're seeing some flashes of good offensive execution even without our number one offensive weapon here," he noted.
Gilas Pilipinas will have a couple more friendly games against Montenegro and Mexico before the tournament.