Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is not giving up on the inclusion of 4 gamers of their upcoming marketing campaign within the nineteenth Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The seasoned tactician stated that Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) continues to battle for the eligibility of Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Mo Tautuaa, and Jason Perkins, who haven’t been cleared to play by the organizers.
“Obviously, the four were here except for Calvin. The other three came here and we really appreciate it. I thought that was really cool to have them here,” Cone stated within the post-game interview.
“Is there no hope for them? They’re breathing. That’s about all we can say. They’re still alive.”
However, Cone harassed that they do have a 12-man lineup now with Chris Ross, Kevin Alas, Arvin Tolentino, and CJ Perez in addition to Marcio Lassiter, who got here in to exchange RR Pogoy, finishing the roster alongside Justin Brownlee, Ange Kouame, June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Arvin Tolentino, and Calvin Oftana.
The 5 late replacements have been fielded throughout Gilas Pilipinas’ pleasant recreation towards the LG Sakers on Friday night time on the PhilSports Arena.
Cone shared they are going to have a extra concrete plan on Sunday, after they go away for China forward of their first Asian Games task on the twenty sixth towards Bahrain.
“We’re still working on it and we’ll have a definitive time by the 24th but by and large, we got our 12 right now,” he stated.
Cone admitted they’re nonetheless ironing out the kinks, however the Barangay Ginebra tactician lauded the 5 gamers who got here in simply days in the past and helped them maintain off a gritty South Korean membership en path to an 86-81 victory.
In the top, it was nonetheless Brownlee who led the nationals because the naturalized cager poured in 19 factors, 5 rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block.
“Honestly, we played better than I thought we would. But that’s a little scary because again, you don’t judge it by one game. The players got a little belief in each other and maybe we could do something,” Cone stated.
“We have a great closer in Justin. He’s like our ‘kodigo’. We can always rely on him. It’s a poker term. So anyway, we can always go to him. We know we could get to him.”
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
