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Philippines, 25 Nov 2024 |
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PHILIPPINES MOVES CLOSER TO SHOWDOWN WITH CHINA By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Wed, 07 Aug 2013  The Philippines moves deeper into troubled waters as it prepares to play China in the knockout quarter finals of the FIBA Asia Championships unless Qatar pulls off an upset over undefeated Chinese-Taipei and gives the Gilas Pilipinas squad a shot at the No. 1 spot and a showdown against Kazakhstan. The team management was mulling over the possibility of filing a formal protest after the referees decided to count a shot by Mansour Eklhadary seconds after an official blew his whistle with 53 seconds left to make the score 74-65 to the consternation of the Philippine bench. That call could be crucial in the event Qatar beats Chinese-Taipei and the quotient system comes into play in deciding who tops the group going into the knockout quarter finals. However, the performance of Chinese-Taipei and the manner in which they played hard enough to beat Japan 79-76 suggests that the dreaded battle with China is likely to happen. Coach Chot Reyes acknowledged the reality when he told a post-game press conference after the Philippines eased past Qatar 80-70 Tuesday night before another huge crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena that ?pending a miracle I think we just arranged a date against China in the quarter finals. We were fully aware of this but there was no way we were not coming out with our best tonight, not with all those people in the stands, with all the expectations. If it so happens that we play China in the quarter finals then so be it.? He said Gilas Pilipinas ?has got to find a way to come out and play a game like this to give us a chance. Other than that the players were very focused and the defense was fantastic (against Qatar.)? Reyes said ?now we can prepare and prepare hard for what is going to be the biggest battle of the tournament.? He disclosed that Marcus Douthit who has been a tower of strength for the Gilas cause ?is going to have a check up today (Wednesday). I hope its just a bruise.? The naturalized Filipino hurt his knee during a bad fall with 4:09 to go in the third quarter and was grimacing in pain before hobbling off the court with the Philippines comfortably ahead by 20 points, 57-37. Reyes said he didn?t want to bring Douthit back into the game but was forced to in the midst of a 21-11 fourth quarter run by Qatar with time down to 1:22. But Jarvis Hayes who was fouled by Douthit surprisingly missed both free throws before a basket by Jayson Castro Williams and one-of-two from the stripe eased the Philippines in front by 10 points with 34.5 seconds remaining in the game and when Hayes missed an attempt from the field Qatar coach Tom Wisman was forced to sue for time. This gave Reyes a chance to sub Douthit with Aguilar who converted one-of-two free throws and then scored on a rim-rattling slam dunk off an alleyoop pass to make it 80-67 before Hayes sank a last second triple for the final 80-70 tally. Reyes said he can rest Douthit against Hong Kong but pointed out that ?there is a flip side to this. We can rest him but he might get out of the timing. Remember we trained for this and all these games back-to back. If we take someone out of the mixture it might affect our timing. It all depends on the medical report today.? He also had some concern over Ranidel de Ocampo who has an MCL. Reyes said ?he banged his knee pretty badly against Japan, he sprained his ankle in the tune-up game against Kazakhstan so he?s favoring his knee. We?ll find out. Like he (Ranidel) said there?s no time to get tired, no time to get hurt.? Sweet-shooting Jeff Chan started off with back-to-back triples to give the Philippines a 6-0 lead and triples by La Tenorio and Gabe Norwood opened up a 20-11 spread but Qatar pulled off a 9-0 run to even the count at 20-20 at the end of the first quarter. Gilas Pilipinas picked up their defensive intensity forcing a 24 second violation after an 8-2 run before a slam dunk by high-flying Japeth Aguilar, a triple by Chan and an emotional five straight points by Gary David including a triple after a steal, gave Gilas a 47-29 lead at the half. Douthit made a basket and then scored on a dunk and after Castro drove strong to the basket and scored Gilas was up by 23 points 57-34. Another Japeth dunk made it 63-41 before Mosa Daoud buried a triple to end the third quarter with the Philippines ahead 63-44. Japeth Aguilar with 14 points and 7 rebounds played his best game so far while Douthit was his usual reliable self with another double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds aside from issuing 4 assists. Chan had 3 of 5 triples to finish with 12 points to go with 6 rebounds. Former NBA player Jarvis Hayes top-scored for Qatar with 17 points plus 11 boards but he was clearly shackled by the imperious defense of Norwood who has emerged as one of the best defensive players in Asia. Saed Erfan Ali was the only other Qatari in double figures with 13 points. The Philippines dominated the rebounds 53-41 shot better from the field converting 26 out of 65 attempts to Qatar?s 26 of 79 while also making 7 of 24 triples to the Qataris 5 of 26 and although Reyes claimed he has no bench players, his substitutes who came off the bench outscored Qatar 37 to 18. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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