Gilas loses to Dominican Republic, 70-80 – August 27, 2023

‘Game Thoughts’

What a disappointing Game, I thought this was our best Chance to win a Game at this World Cup (WC) and was actually expecting it, but we ended up short again under Kots Choke Reyes. 

The way I see it, what happened was simple: They were quick and athletic, so they just played excellent Defense for most of the Game, pressing our Ball Carriers from the moment we made the Inbound from the other side of the Court and denied the Passing Lanes as much as possible. 

This made some Turnovers, but more importantly it stifled our Offense, making us use a lot of our Shot Clock just bringing down the Ball and setting up Plays. So we ended up with a lot of hurried Shots and blunted or took the life out of Plays. 

We were also too predictable on Offense, it was basically just pass the Ball to Clarkson and either he Scores or makes the Pass. And that was it, finished. If you look at the Scoresheet, only Clarkson was in double Figures in the entire Team. On the other Hand, Angola had FIVE Players in double Figures in terms of Points. 

‘Player Thoughts’

Junemar Fajardo who played well against Karl Anthony Towns (KAT) in the Game against the Dominican Republic (DR) couldn’t get his Game going much, stifled by the less touted but Tall and Athletic Players of Angola. 

Kai Sotto finally got his wish of getting a lot of Playing Time at 20 minutes, but against a Team with nowhere near his Height, he just couldn’t dominate, contributing some but not to the level to help the Team win. Sadly this should confirm that he is not ready for the National Basketball Association (NBA), at least not yet, MAYBE later. 

AJ Edu got around the same numbers he had against the DR, this time against another NBA Player, Bruno Fernando, but couldn’t rise enough to really help the Team win also.

Jordan Clarkson got his Numbers, but was miserable from the three-point area, only hitting 13% of his Shots (only 1 out of 8 made) from there. He’s not really as good as he thinks he is, which is why I think he will likely be just good enough to be a Starter in the NBA, but not an All-Star Level Talent there.

CJ Perez finally got some Playing Time and scored some Baskets, but then again he also made 4 Turnovers (TO) in doing so, the highest in the Team for this Game.

‘Final Thoughts’

Again a very disappointing Loss which practically kicked the Philippines out of the next Round of the WC. 

SOURCE STATS: https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/game/2708/Philippines-Angola#|tab=boxscore