Gilas, Koreans clash for 2nd time

Games today: (AUF Gym) 11:30 a.m. – Indonesia vs Thailand 3 p.m. – Philippines vs Korea 6 p.m. – China vs Chinese-Taipei

WHEN Gilas Pilipinas returns to the playing court to play long-time nemesis South Korea today, it is bringing with it the broom.
Yes, you read it right. The Filipinos will be going for a sweep of their six-game assignment in the third window of the FIBAAsia Cup qualifiers in Angeles City.

The two bitter rivals meet at 3 p.m. in the second game of concluding three-game program, with pulsating action expected to come aplenty given the tenacity and fire that usually accompanies many of their past confrontations in the past.

Even before they could meet, Gilas coach Tab Baldwin had fired the first shot.

The other day, Baldwin took exception on his Korean counterpart Cho Sang Hyun’s statement that SJ Belangel’s game-winning triple in the Philippines’ 81-78 win last Wednesday was a “lucky shot”.

“We’ve already read that the Korea coach said we’re very lucky to win the game. Frankly I think that’s pretty rich for any coach to walk off, lose in any game and claim that there’s good luck on the part of the opponent,” said Baldwin after Friday night’s 76-51 win over Indonesia.

“I’ll make sure that that will give our players an extra incentive. I don’t expect that we’ll go out there to make friends on Sunday,” he added.

Meanwhile, former Houston Rockets player Zhou Qi had 18 points and 12 rebounds in a reserve role as China repeated over Japan, 90-84, to raise its perfect record to 3-0 in Group B yesterday at the Angeles City bubble.

The Japanese, who were led by Yuki Togashi’s 17 points, fell to 2-2.

The Philippines may have already secured Asia Cup qualification with a undefeated 5-0 record, but Baldwin wanted his troops to stay disciplined in executing plays to be successful.

“We lacked self-discipline in the culture that we really want to establish. Without that, we’d pretty be ordinary and we don’t want to be ordinary. We wanna be elite, we want to be an international basketball team that people will respect,” said Baldwin.

“I think we need to be able to be a team that can play with tempo and play with with discipline. It’s a great learning experience for us, we will improve because of that first half lack of performance,” he added.

Carl Tamayo, one of the Filipinos main men in the middle, will most likely miss the rematch against the Koreans after he sustained an ankle injury in their duel with the Indonesians.

“Carl apparently has Grade 1 strain. It’s not overly serious but he’s in pain in the ankle,” said Baldwin. “It may be upgraded once examined further.”

Tamayo was one of the Philippines’ vital cogs in their dramatic win against South Korea, scoring 10 points in 11 minutes. He tallied for six points, four rebounds and two assists before leaving the game against Indonesia.

“He won’t be active tomorrow. But I think certainly he won’t be active on Sunday. Until the doctors give me more information, I don’t know.”

South Korea was playing Thailand as of presstime and has also secured a spot in the Asia Cup in Jakarta in August.

The Indonesians and the Thais collide in the first game at 11:30 a.m. China and Chinese-Taipei clash in the lone Group B tussle at 6 p.m.