BY REYNALD MAGALLON
The fire of Gilas Pilipinas Olympics dream continues to burn brightly and mightily as the Nationals take on the world No.12 Brazil in the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament at the Riga Arena on Saturday, July 6.
With no one really expecting for the Filipinos to go deep into the competition, except probably those who are within their inner circles, Gilas is hoping to sustain the dream run in the 8:30 p.m. clash against Brazil – a team that the Nationals have never beaten through four matchups in the FIBA stage.
The last time Gilas and the Cariocas faced up was way back in the semifinals 1978 World Championships where the latter won in a dominating fashion, 119-78.
That, however, is not to say that the Nationals have no chance against the Brazilians especially now that Gilas is brimming with confidence after holding its own against some of the top European teams in Georgia and Latvia.
Gilas, for one, once expected to finish dead last in the group, has been lording it over the OQT in terms of the statistics, leading the way in scoring the tournament with a whopping average 91.5 points for a 40-minute game.
The closest to the Filipinos are the hosts Latvia which only averaged 81.5 points. The high scoring for Gilas was also behind ultra efficient offense with 55.5 percent shooting from the field – 57.2 percent from the two-point area and 51.2 percent from deep – all of which are tournament bests.
Gilas is also the tournament leader in assists with 21.5 per game and the second-best rebounding team with 39.5 rebounds per game.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone, however, didn’t want the numbers to get into their head and instead focus on the task at hand especially now that they are two-wins away from making it to the Paris Olympics
“I hope not. I hope that it is not coming through our mind because we’re very process driven and we just want to stay on what’s right in front of us,” said Cone.
“We don’t want to look in the end zone and in the end and think ‘wow what would happen if we can make it to Paris,” he added.
A cloud of uncertainty also surrounds the availability of Kai Sotto who exited the game against Georgia in the second quarter due to what was feared to be a rib injury.
Brazil, also for one, is as formidable as any European team in the tournament having taken down Montenegro 81-72 before losing on a last gasp trey against Cameroon, 77-74.
Bruno Cabuclo who is leading his team in scoring with 17.5 ppg, should be the focus of Gilas defense same way how Cariocas are expected to put the clamps down Justin Brownlee who has been on a tear so far with averages of 27.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists
