By REYNALD MAGALLON
Taking care of the last two games in the classification round to boost its Paris Olympics chances wouldn’t come easy for Gilas Pilipinas especially being pitted against two formidable foes in South Sudan and China.
Even Gilas main man Jordan Clarkson, who has been showing the way for the hosts despite losing all of its three games in the first round, knew full well that it won’t be an easy task beating two teams.
“South Sudan (is a) physical and athletic team. Watched them play a few games. Their coaching is good as well. I know Luol Deng and how he has put the program over there,” said Clarkson referring to former NBA player Deng who is now part of the coaching staff of head coach Royal Ivey.
“They got a young player Wenyen Gabriel who is also over there as well, athletic and runs the floor,” he added as the Bright Stars also had the likes of Chicago Bulls guard Carlik Jones who is the team’s leading scorer, NBL Australia guard Sunday Dech, and agile big men Du Juo Kacuol and Numi Omot.
“And China, very familiar with that team, Kyle Anderson joining as well and their big guy,” Clarkson said of the Asian top team which he first played against during his first stint with the national team in the 2018 Asian Games.
Consistency has been Team Dragon’s problem so far in the tournament with Li Kaier (Anderson) and Zhou Qi playing subpar in some games although they got the likes of Zhao Rui and Zhao Jiwan who could pick up the slack.
Clarkson stressed that Gilas should come out strong against these teams to finally pick up the elusive first win in the tournament and end a standing eight-game losing streak for the Nationals in the World Cup beginning in the 2019 edition.
“Two really good teams so we got to come out here and put it together competing and win,” Clarkson emphasized.
“That’s what we want to do, not come out here trying to lose but we know these two teams are good. They’ve been put together well with size and everything so(just) be ready competing and fight,” he added.
