Chot Reyes on Montenegro tune-up game: ‘Mapapalaban talaga tayo’
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes was seated on the stairwell of the baseline section of the PhilSports Arena late on Friday night as he shifted his focus to Sunday’s much more difficult assignment.
“Oh, Montenegro, that’s a very different team, mas malakas yan, European style, [Nikola] Vucevic is there, a bonafide NBA starter for his team, and some others,” Reyes said just moments after the national team overpowered Ivory Coast, 85-62.
“Dyan, mapapalaban talaga tayo. But we’ll see. We’re looking to play better in the Montenegro game than we did today,” he added.
The game on August 20 begins at 8:00pm in Pasig City’s PhilSports Arena. Montenegro, which qualified for the World Cup on the final day of the European Qualifiers in November of last year, is ranked No. 18 in the world and is led by 6-foot-9 Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Vucevic, 6-foot-7 Bojan Dubljevic, and shooters Vladimir Mihailovic and Dino Radoncic.
Gilas Pilipinas will conclude its tune-up matches against Mexico on Monday at the same time and location.
The closed-door match against the Ivorians, who share Group G in Jakarta, Indonesia with defending champion Spain, Iran, and Brazil, was the first of three scheduled friendlies for the Philippine national team prior to its opening match against the Dominican Republic on August 25 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Clarkson, a go-to player for the Utah Jazz, and June Mar Fajardo, a six-time PBA Most Valuable Player, led five Gilas Pilipinas players in double figures against Cote d’Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast.
Gilas gained strength in preparation for the Basketball World Cup, with both players scoring 13 points, AJ Edu adding 12 points and seven rebounds, Scottie Thompson scoring 11 points, and 7-foot NBA prospect Kai Sotto scoring 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Reyes asserted that it was intentional for Clarkson to play without relief during the frantic first half.
“Pinag-usapan talaga namin yon, he’ll play the whole first half kasi kailangan nyang makuha yung kanyang game wind. And then he starts sa third, and if kailangan siya sa fourth, babalik siya. E di na kinailangan so okay na yon, pahinga, prepare na lang for the next game.”
A breakthrough moment in the third quarter allowed Gilas to surge to multiple double-digit leads before entering the final quarter with a 60-53 advantage.
Clarkson, who played point guard the majority of the time, committed four turnovers, the majority of which were blind passes that receivers were unable to control, indicating a need for greater familiarity between the players.
“There were still some kinks offensively, the turnovers, kasi first time naglaro sila ng kumpleto di ba?” said Reyes.
“We have to keep working on that. But I was very pleased with the defense, especially sa second half. Trinabaho talaga namin yon sa Europe and sa China.”
