The Cedars hit Gilas with the "Night, Night" celebration the last time around. Gilas wants to avoid a repeat of that.
The sixth window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers is just about to go down, and first up for Gilas Pilipinas is Lebanon, proclaimed by Chot Reyes as the best team in Asia. The Cedars, incidentally, beat Gilas in the fourth window last year—albeit narrowly, 85-81, and only after getting a few big breaks down the stretch,
And that only means one thing: Gilas can beat the Cedars. But for that to happen, Reyes and his wards will have to do these four things:
Don’t get complacent
It appears Lebanon won’t be fielding the same strong lineup they did in last year’s fourth window, as ace point guard Wael Arakji is reportedly not playing, as are big men Ali Haidar and Jonathan Arledge. But make no mistake: the Cedars are still a formidable team, and they will go all-out to get a W in enemy territory. This means Gilas can’t be complacent at all, even if the team they are playing is without three of its best players.
Take care of the ball
Last time around, Gilas coughed the ball up 21 times against the Cedars, who scored 22 points off those turnovers. That’s not exactly a winning formula, and it is something Gilas needs to avoid if it wants to avenge last year’s defeat. Ideally, Gilas must limit their turnovers to less than 10 so it can maximize possessions and actually get shots off.
Gang-rebound, gang-defend
Sans big men Kai Sotto and Japeth Aguilar, Gilas will likely be undersized inside, which means the Cedars are likely to reverse Gilas’ 48-36 rebounding advantage from last year’s showdown. But rebounding was a big key to the Philippines nearly beating Lebanon back then, and it will be crucial again on Friday at the Philippine Arena. So, everyone not named June Mar Fajardo will have to crash the boards and be active all around.
Knock down the three ball
It goes without saying that the three-point shot is king in basketball nowadays. Gilas had lots of good looks from deep in last year’s encounter, but knocked down only six triples on a forgettable 26.1% clip. And yet the team had a chance to still win in the end. If they can only shoot better, then the tables will are sure to turn this Friday.
There is little doubt Lebanon is formidable, but it is beatable. We'll find out soon enough if Gilas can do it.