By REYNALD MAGALLON
It ain’t over till it’s over.
American legendary baseball player-manager Yogi Berra uttered that classic line 50 years ago when the famed New York Mets was way behind in the National League pennant race.
The Mets rallied furiously and went on to win the division title in the Major League Baseball that time.
Can the floundering Gilas Pilipinas do the same trick?
Gilas coach Chot Reyes thinks so.
For one, a chance, no matter how small, is still a window of opportunity the Nationals would willingly take to stay in contention for the second round spot and keep themselves in the race for the 2024 Paris Olympics berth.
“We focus on what’s within our hands. There’s a game to be played on Tuesday and we’re going to come out and prepare as best we can to play a top 10 team Italy. That’s all we can do right now,” said Reyes.
“We all know the mathematics of the situation. The first thing for us is to make sure that we come out and prepare and find a way to win that game. The quotient will take care of itself but for us, like I said, we focus on what we need to do to be able to compete against a top 10 team in the world,” he added.
Gilas Pilipinas is bracing for another whale of a challenge against the world No. 10 Italy in its final assignment in the Group A action of the 2023 FIBA World Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
The Filipinos are hoping to pull off the improbable against the Azzurri in the main event at 8 p.m. but not after the results of the 4 p.m. clash between Dominican Republic and Angola which will bear implications to the second game.
Both Gilas and Italy are hoping for a Dominican Republic win which will give the two squads some hope of advancing to the second round of the tournament.
Should Karl-Anthony Towns and the Dominicans complete a sweep of Group A, that was only the first part of the mission for both Italy and Gilas although the former surely has a lot easier route over the other.
The Italians, for one, are only needing a victory to advance to the round of 16, while Gilas would need more than just a win to get a favorable quotient once a triple tie for the second spot with identical 1-2 records happens.
Gilas, on the other hand, has the daunting task of winning by at least 13 points to get the superior point differential and claim the second spot of the standings against an Italian crew eager to bounce back from an 87-82 setback against Dominican Republic.
For everybody’s knowledge, Reyes remains, defiant as he refused to get affected by emotions and distractions ahead of the do-or-die match.
Italy, for its part though, is not taking the Filipinos lightly, knowing full well that anyone outside Jordan Clarkson are also capable of running the show for Gilas.
“The Philippines, like the Dominican Republic, have a single great player and all around them, there’s a good team. For sure, it’s very important to limit this player,” said Italy veteran big man Luigi Datome.
“You cannot stop them, they’re so good, you have to limit them with teamwork and pay attention to the others because they’re all good players,” he stressed.
