By MARK REY MONTEJO
To many, the loss was a bitter pill to swallow but Latvian’s Italian coach Luca Banchi did not only take it in stride but also sang hosannas to the 11-strong Gilas Pilipinas after a painful 89-80 defeat in front of their horrified supporters in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at Riga Arena early Thursday, July 4.
Banchi, the winner of Best Coach plum in 2023 FIBA World Cup where the Latvians finished fifth, heaped praises to the Nationals who exhibited indomitable spirit – not to mention great chemistry right from the get-go – to produce what could be the biggest win by a Philippine team since the country’s epic 84-82 win over Spain in the 1960 Olympics.
“Excellent performance from the very beginning, they were very sharp, they imposed their physicality,” said Banchi in the FIBA post-game conference. “They showed sharpness to find good solutions on their offense.”
Anchored by Justin Brownlee, who scattered 26 points apart from posting nine rebounds and nine assists, Gilas put up a masterclass performance offensively and defensively as it seized a 26-point lead heading into the final frame and forcing the Davis Bertans’ led squad to a 23.8% (10-42) shooting beyond the arc.
Kai Sotto, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome and Dwight Ramos also put up great numbers on the floor for Gilas.
Latvia failed to duplicate its dominant display in its last contest with Georgia, 83-55, as it never tasted to take a lead over the Philippines, despite double-digit outputs coming from Rodion Kurucs (18) and Davis Bertans (10).
The two NBA players joined Kristers Zoriks (10) and Janis Streinieks (10) in leading the Latvian’s scoring rally.
“[We] better to talk about their (Gilas) defensive system not only offensive system, of course offensively tonight they obviously showed great performance,” Banchi continued.
“But I also believed defensively, their system, their size, and their lineup, typology, closed the paint very well and it cost 40 more shots in three points and we only scored 10,” Banchi added.
Still, the 58-year-old tactician took the defeat as a learning experience for Latvia which is gunning for its return in the quadrennial meet since its first and only appearance in the 1936 Berlin Games.
“From our side, this is a good lesson as we are in the tournament. That game can help us set the tone in such a tournament,” Banchi continued. “You know, probably the result yesterday Croatia had an amazing win against Slovenia and today they lost to New Zealand with a team who arrived in the tournament fresh and like the Philippines.”
“Unfortunately we lost from the beginning. We have to congratulate them because our opponent played a very good game. On the other hand it’s just a matter of rest and focus on the next step of the tournament,” he added.
