Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin said the loss to Dominican Republic in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament was a reality check for his young team that remains far from having almost the same quality as the opponents it had faced the past couple of weeks.
The national cagers were denied a berth in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers after a 94-67 defeat, a result that perhaps humbled Gilas following a sweep of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers and coming close to beating host Serbia in the Belgrade OQT opener.
“I think the biggest lesson is something we probably really know is that we have a tremendous amount to learn and we need to be able to treat measured success, real success the same as we treat defeat and failure,” Baldwin said.
“Everything is a lesson for us now, and we can hang our heads if we want and that’s not gonna do any good.”
Baldwin understands that the result will likely face plenty of questions from those whose expectations probably grew following the Serbia game and others who are pessimistic about the team’s chances of becoming at least one of consistent powers in the Asian region.
“I told the guys to look at your questioners directly in the eye and understand that the people have a right to question the way that we played (against Dominican Republic),” he said.
“We answered the question and that we played badly and then we move on. And I think that’s gonna be one of the lessons that we have to take out of this is every day is not a great day but everyday is an opportunity to be better,” added Baldwin.
Gilas is hoping the lessons of the OQT can be used as one of the motivating factors going into next month’s FIBA Asia Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The team could resume training on July 20 at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna to begin preparations for the continental tournament.
Once it reconvenes, Gilas hopes the learnings gained in Belgrade can be applied into action.