Gilas Pilipinas already arrived in Lithuania for the second leg of its Europe trip where it plans to further work on the weaknesses it managed to pinpoint following its two tune-up games in the pocket tournament in Estonia.

Gilas Pilipinas continues its FIBA World Cup build up with a series of tune-up games in Lithuania (Marita Brigitta Mones (Estonian Basketball Association)

The team was already in Kaunas, Lithuania where Gilas is set to play at least four more friendlies – including games against the country’s under-22 national team, top ball clubs and possibly fellow World Cup-bound team Latvia

“We have four more in Lithuania. At least four more. Four games in 10 days. Again, those are going to be good tests for us,” said Reyes.

Reyes also added that the team will keep its twice-a-day schedule of training as the team now puts premium on getting the players back to peak conditioning while also establishing the fundamentals of their defense which was a huge factor in Gilas’ close losses to Estonia and Finland.

Gilas played in the tuneup still without big man AJ Edu due to an ankle injury while Scottie Thompson skipped the first game against the hosts due to back spasm. Even Justin Brownlee also had to deal with cramps and failed to finish the game against Estonia.

“Right now, we are just continuing, little by little, to get up our conditioning level. No. 2, all we are doing now defensively is all the fundamentals, technique, mechanics, making sure everyone is on the same page, understanding our terminologies and what we want to do,” explained the veteran mentor.

“From there, we can build on it. We can run some schemes. We can run different looks. Right now it’s all about putting in the fundamentals and the mechanics in getting on the same page first, and then putting in the foundation, and then slowly getting back into game shape,” he added.

Reyes, who was pleased with the team’s performance, despite the tough losses in Estonia, knew full well that achieving these goals won’t happen overnight and playing these games, regardless of the outcome, will be crucial for the team as it ramps up its preparation for its group stage games in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

“We know it’s not going to happen overnight, that's why we are starting this early. That’s why we are playing all these games,” stressed Reyes.