Coach Chot admits defensive lapses in Lithunia loss
Published Jul 5, 2023 06:37 am
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes wants to find the perfect balance in the Nationals’ offense and defense following their 90-80 loss against a Lithuanian select team early Wednesday, July 5.
*Gilas Pilipinas is looking for solutions after facing trouble against versatile big men. (SBP photo)*
Outside the slow start where Gilas fell behind early, offense wasn’t really the problem for the Filipinos but it was the team’s ability to defend and force stops, according to Reyes. The veteran coach felt that the tuneup game against the undermanned but sweet-shooting Lithuanian team exposed holes in Gilas' defense especially when facing up against a squad whose offense was centered around its stretch big men. “Offense wasn't a problem in this ball game, it was really the defense. We’re going to have ball games like this where we’re scoring really well but we cannot stop the other team. We have to find that balance,” said Reyes. Lithuania’s ball screen offense which created either open treys or driving lanes punished Gilas’ slower frontline which, for the most part, had to rely on June Mar Fajardo. Its big man, Tomas Zdanavicius, fired six triples to finish with 25 points, keeping Gilas at bay throughout the contest. “We want to play a team that has five shooters because we wanted to see June Mar, how he will defend against ball screens and pick and pops against three-point shooters. June Mar had 10 points in the first half but his man had 20 points so that’s something that we need to work on,” Reyes pointed out. Even the rest of the team were slow to react against Lithuania’s fluid offense – something that Gilas will need to learn playing against as they face some of the world’s potent offensive teams in the World Cup group stage. “It's an area that unless we really experience it then we wouldn’t really know how we can address it. So again learning experience for us. It’s now upon us to figure out ways to defend when there’s an outside shooting big man from the opposing team. Those were the things that we wanted to learn,” added Reyes. Still, Reyes was glad that Gilas finally got the experience to face such a team as the Nationals picked up lessons which will be valuable as they continue to prepare for the World Cup. “Part of the learning process,” said Reyes. “Obviously not happy with the result but I'm very satisfied with the lessons that we continue to pick. That's what we came here to learn.”
*Gilas Pilipinas is looking for solutions after facing trouble against versatile big men. (SBP photo)*
Outside the slow start where Gilas fell behind early, offense wasn’t really the problem for the Filipinos but it was the team’s ability to defend and force stops, according to Reyes. The veteran coach felt that the tuneup game against the undermanned but sweet-shooting Lithuanian team exposed holes in Gilas' defense especially when facing up against a squad whose offense was centered around its stretch big men. “Offense wasn't a problem in this ball game, it was really the defense. We’re going to have ball games like this where we’re scoring really well but we cannot stop the other team. We have to find that balance,” said Reyes. Lithuania’s ball screen offense which created either open treys or driving lanes punished Gilas’ slower frontline which, for the most part, had to rely on June Mar Fajardo. Its big man, Tomas Zdanavicius, fired six triples to finish with 25 points, keeping Gilas at bay throughout the contest. “We want to play a team that has five shooters because we wanted to see June Mar, how he will defend against ball screens and pick and pops against three-point shooters. June Mar had 10 points in the first half but his man had 20 points so that’s something that we need to work on,” Reyes pointed out. Even the rest of the team were slow to react against Lithuania’s fluid offense – something that Gilas will need to learn playing against as they face some of the world’s potent offensive teams in the World Cup group stage. “It's an area that unless we really experience it then we wouldn’t really know how we can address it. So again learning experience for us. It’s now upon us to figure out ways to defend when there’s an outside shooting big man from the opposing team. Those were the things that we wanted to learn,” added Reyes. Still, Reyes was glad that Gilas finally got the experience to face such a team as the Nationals picked up lessons which will be valuable as they continue to prepare for the World Cup. “Part of the learning process,” said Reyes. “Obviously not happy with the result but I'm very satisfied with the lessons that we continue to pick. That's what we came here to learn.”