Montenegro tuneup gives Gilas feel of World Cup, says Chot

As the 2023 FIBA World Cup attracts close to, Gilas Pilipinas is slowly getting accustomed to the system and the ins and outs of what it is prefer to play in a extremely aggressive world event equivalent to that.

National crew head coach Chot Reyes harassed that their current loss to world no. 18 Montenegro in a tuneup affair positively gave them sense of the World Cup, which might be hosted by the Philippines for the primary time since 1978.

“Like we talked about the game, this game really made us feel that we’re in the World Cup,” Reyes mentioned on the heels of their 102-87 defeat by the hands of the Montenegrins on Sunday evening on the Philsports Arena.

“The kind of team we’re playing—they’ve been with a team for a long time, with great talent and everything else: Smooth system offensively and defensively.”

Despite the loss, which noticed Gilas undergo a 3rd quarter collapse, Reyes mentioned he was impressed by how the crew fought in opposition to Montenegro that’s led by NBA star Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls.

Reyes added that they may use that loss to iron out the kinks with 4 days left earlier than they open their marketing campaign on Friday in opposition to world no. 23 Dominican Republic tipped to be backstopped by Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“I like how we competed with them the entire first half. We just had a letdown defensively in that third quarter and those are the things… that’s why we play those games—for us to learn what else we can improve on,” the longtime tactician added.

Gilas stored inside hanging distance on the first half, trailing Montenegro by simply two factors, 42-44. But it was within the penultimate body that the guests pulled away for good, limiting the Philippines to 22 factors in opposition to their 32-point manufacturing.

Montenegro even led by as a lot as 20 factors, 90-70, midway by the fourth interval following a triple from crew captain Bojan Dubljevic. Gilas was unable to recuperate to fall to a 1-1 slate in a three-game pleasant sequence forward of the World Cup.

“When we started the third quarter with three straight turnovers and they scored two straight three-pointers and a two-point shot right away—an 8-0 run—basically that turned the tide,” Reyes mentioned.

“When we give good, quality teams like Montenegro a momentum, a lead like that, it’s very, very hard to recover. That’s a good example in this ball game, just a brief letdown and you see what happens.”

They beforehand defeated Ivory Coast behind Jordan Clarkson, AJ Edu, and June Mar Fajardo.

—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News