It’s a tactic that can take some getting used to, even for the country’s best hoopers.
Men’s national basketball team coach Chot Reyes keeps it real: Gilas Pilipinas will never have any size or height advantage in the FIBA World Cup. This is why they are using their build-up to try various lineup combinations to exploit any other advantage they might find.
In this day of modern basketball where threes and layups are considered the best—sometimes only—shots to take, Reyes and his coaching staff are asking their players to tweak their games a little and get used to taking more pull-up jumpers.
“We just really need to get that habit. Just jump stop, please, jump stop. We just need to keep drilling and drilling and drilling that jump stop because that’s where we got shots,” Reyes told Gilas in their huddle after their loss to Senegal last Friday at the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament in China.
For a Philippine team that always finds its height wanting when it comes to international tournaments, Reyes believes quick jump shots allow them to stick it to tall defensive walls.
“When you play teams like that, ang lalaki talaga niyan, those lobs, layups, it’s not going to be there, ang hahaba talaga niyan,” Reyes explained.
And as the Gilas squad continues to show a “tremendous fighting spirit” in the pocket tournament, fans may just be looking at the nationals taking revenge against the African squad as they face off once more tonight, Sunday.
“We’ll play this team again. We’ll get them the next time,” Coach Chot vowed before his wards.
Catch Gilas versus Senegal on One Sports+ tonight at 8 p.m.