The Gilas Pilipinas legion of fans expect no less than a gold medal in the SEA Games.
Memories of the painful finals loss in the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games still linger. And Gilas Pilipinas have learned from their past mistakes.
As early as now, the Philippine Men’s Basketball Team is already gearing up to reclaim the gold title it lost to Indonesia last May.
According to Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes, the current national team pool, which is training for the February window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, will be the same squad for the biennial meet, which will take place in May in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Reyes believes that the longer preparation for the upcoming tournament will do wonders. It can be recalled that the last Gilas Pilipinas SEA Games squad barely had training for the competition.
“Just for the fact that we've now been together for a lot longer than we were the last time when we went to Vietnam, I think we should be better prepared,” Reyes told Playitright TV.
“I think just the fact that we will have more preparation time will be important.”
Before losing to Indonesia in the gold medal match, the Philippines had won 13 straight SEA Games titles in a streak that started in 1991.
Reyes is optimistic that they will reclaim gold but said they won’t take the competition lightly, especially the reigning gold medalists.
“It's still no guarantee because Indonesia has been playing really well. We still have to be able to go in and play our best basketball.”