By MARK REY MONTEJO
Gilas Pilipinas high flying forward Rhenz Abando certainly left a lasting impression on China naturalized player Kyle Anderson (Li Kaier).
Anderson might not particularly remember Abando’s name but the block that the 25-year-old pulled off against him that fueled the Nationals third quarter onslaught, left a mark on the Minnesota Timberwolves forward.
“I’m not sure what’s his name or number, he got the block on me in my euro-step, he turned the game around, him [Abando] and Jordan Clarkson turned the game around,” Anderson said.
The stop was only one of the defensive plays that fueled a 27-2 run that allowed the Nationals to break the game wide open and score its very first win in the tournament after a 96-75 triumph over China.
While Abando and the rest of the crew focused on the defensive end, it was Clarkson who took care of the offensive load, dropping 24 of his total in the third quarter including a 20-point outburst in a four minute stretch highlighted by four straight triples.
“Simple as that, they played well, hats off to those guys,”
“Credit to them, they played well and played hard, they’ve got the fans behind them and Jordan [Clarkson] played great, their whole team played great, I’ll give a lot of credit for those guys, they competed,” he added.
For the Chinese-American cager who paced the Chinese with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists, the FIBA experience is something he cherishes and that he will be forever grateful for the lessons he learned while bannering the Chinese squad.
“I love the experience, being around all of these great players, competing with my team was awesome, competing for China was awesome, the fans they loved us [and] supporting us even through the tough times, playing for coach Shasha [Djordjevic] was a great experience. I learn a lot, so I love the experience,” Anderson said.
