It was a close match, but Lebanon had the edge in certain areas, which allowed them to get the win.
Team Lebanon defended their home turf and defeated Gilas Pilipinas in heartbreaking fashion in last year’s August segment of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. On Friday, the two national squads will clash again for the event’s sixth and final window. With the rematch happening at the Philippine Arena, Gilas naturally want to avenge their 85-81 loss convincingly. On the other hand, the Lebanese side, which has already qualified for the World Cup like Gilas, would love to get a confidence-boosting victory on the road.
Before all that, however, it’s best that we look back on some of the most telling stats from their intense encounter in 2022. This way, we’ll have a better feel of what’s in store for us when the do-over takes place in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Lebanon outgunned Gilas from deep
Lebanon had 11 three-pointers on 31.4 percent shooting. The biggest of them all was the dagger that Wael Arakji nailed with just 16 seconds left in the game. In contrast, the Filipino contingent only managed to hit an anemic 6 threes at a 26.1 percent clip. In this day and age, the mantra is, “he who dominates the three-ball, controls the game.”
Lebanon took care of the ball much better
The Lebanese ballers ended up with only 9 turnovers the entire game, compared to Gilas’ 21. Consequently, Team Lebanon got more buckets off their opponents’ mistakes more than their counterparts did. To be exact, Gilas only had 13 points from turnovers, while the Cedars got 22. Taking care of the basketball will be crucial for both squads on the 24th.
Gilas outran Lebanon by a mile
Like we said, it was a close fight. Gilas too had stuff going for them. One of which was fastbreak points. The Filipinos’ 29 markers towered over Lebanon’s 13. Chot Reyes and his staff have yet to name the final 12 for this window, but to keep this fastbreak edge, we imagine it would take Jamie Malonzo and Justin Brownlee running the wings as Jerom Lastimosa pushes the ball multiple times during the course of the game.
Gilas outrebounded Lebanon
One of the reasons why Gilas had a shot at beating Lebanon was their 48 to 36 rebounding advantage. Dwight Ramos led the way grabbing 10 boards, while Kai Sotto and Japeth Aguilar corralled 8 and 6, respectively. The problem is Kai and Japeth are both out of the sixth window. With that, Ramos and company would have to work doubly hard to keep their rebounding trump card.
Lebanon made the winning play
After a massive Sotto block with just 20 seconds left as Gilas was only down by two, the 50-50 ball bounced conveniently towards Arakji, allowing him to drain that back-breaking three-ball. The deciding play boiled down to a loose ball possession, and it was Lebanon who capitalized.
If Gilas want to get back at Team Lebanon, on home soil at that, they’ve got to make the winning plays, including the ones not shown on the stat sheet. Perhaps it’s the PBA’s reigning do-it-all MVP Scottie Thompson who’ll take care of that concern.