Chot Reyes sees the silver lining in Gilas Pilipinas’ 0-3 finish in Group A of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, saying that the Filipinos can compete and actually put themselves in the position to win against high-caliber teams in the international stage.

Unlike in the 2019 edition where the Nationals absorbed an average losing margin of 24 points including a 40-point beatdown at the hands of Italy, Gilas only lost by 7.4 points through three games and was only staring at a seven-point deficit, 90-83, against the Azzurri at the final horn.

Gilas dropped its opening game against Dominican Republic, 88-81, and was dealt a heartbreaking 80-70 loss to Angola in the second game.

In all of the three games, the Filipinos had their chances and even took the lead at some point of the contest, only to fall short if not for a couple of bad breaks in the end.

“We’ve shown that we can compete and even lead against these top teams. We’re just not able to put an entire game together,” rued Reyes.

“There are a lot of factors involved. Obviously, in the first game, Jordan Clarkson fouled out. That was a big factor. If he didn’t foul out, maybe it would have been a different story. Every game has different things happening. Last game, we couldn’t make shots. Today, we faced a team that made all their three-point shots. Like JC said, that’s basketball,” Reyes recalled.

Still, Reyes was proud and couldn’t ask for more from his players, especially putting up the brave stand throughout the pressure-packed six-day stretch of the group stage. 

Even in the final moments against Italy when the game felt like it was already done and settled, Gilas would still refuse to simply give up and would try to make a comeback.

“I'm very proud of the effort of our players. What a way to fight coming off those two painful losses and to still show up tonight and to give it their all against a top ten team in the world,” said Reyes after the tough loss to Italy.

“I couldn't ask for more. We just came up short but you know, we continue to fight and that's all we can do,” he added.

Gilas’ road, however, was far from over in the World Cup as it is still set to compete in two classification games which will play a huge factor whether the Nationals would be able to achieve their goal of qualifying to the Olympics.