Here is everything that you need to know about the Gilas Pilipinas 2021 Lineup, and the game that they had at 2:15 AM Philippine time.
What you can read in this article:
- Gilas Pilipinas 2021 lineup
- How the game went against Serbia
- What you could look forward to for Philippine basketball
Gilas Pilipinas 2021 lineup
| 3 | Rhon Jay Abarrientos |
| 4 | George Isaac Go |
| 7 | Michael Joseph Nieto |
| 11 | Kai Zachary Sotto |
| 15 | Jordan Timothy Heading |
| 18 | Shaun Geoffrey Chiu |
| 23 | William Raniel Navarro |
| 24 | Dwight Ramos |
| 27 | Samjosef Belangel |
| 28 | Justine Baltazar |
| 33 | Carl Vincent Tamayo |
| 34 | Kakou Ange Franck Williams Kouame |
How the game went against Serbia
Picture from ABS-CBN
The Gilas Pilipinas Men gave Serbia quite a scare during the fourth and third quarters before the hosts picked up an 83-76 victory in Belgrade to complete their two-game sweep of the group stage.
The host country will now wait for the result of the game between Italy and Puerto Rico from the other side of the bracket as they will take on the loser in the crossover semifinals.
The Philippine squad, on the other end, will need to gather themselves quickly as they will only have 24 hours to prepare for their next game against the Dominican Republic with a semifinals ticket up for grabs.
The inspired Filipinos momentarily held the lead in the fourth quarter only to witness the world’s No. 5 ranked team, Serbi to rely on NBA big man Boban Marjanovic to bring the win home.
The Serbian monster
Picture from Dugout Philippines.
The Serbian team buried Gilas by as many as 16 points, the Philippines stunned the hometown crowd at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall as RJ Abarrientos hit a nasty jumper to give the Philippines a 74-73 advantage with 3:50 minutes left.
However, by way of the beast of a man that is Boban Marjanovic, Serbia regained the who also finished with 11 rebounds.
Justine Baltazar trimmed the Philippines’ deficit to a tiny sliver, 76-77, but it did not help the Filipinos’ cause when he and SJ Belangel blotched open three-pointer each, which would have put our team up on top.
Marjanovic then sealed the win for Serbia with another pair of buckets, the last of which was a turnaround hook shot over Angelo Kouame with 36 ticks remaining. ICE COLD KILLER.
Throughout the game, Gilas was practically at the mercy of Bobi as some people call him. He dominated any big that was put in front of him with a variety of post moves, putbacks, and as well as his signature push shot.
Kouame led the charge for the Philippines with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks, while Jordan Heading chimed in 13 points on a 4-of-5 clip from long range to go with 3 assists.
Kai Sotto also lived up to his name by chipping in 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks, while Baltazar added 10 points and 4 rebounds in the losing effort.
The other guys
Boban was not the only one doing damage in the scoring department, Milos Teodosic had 12 points and 6 assists, and on the other hand, Ognjen Dobric has 16 points and shot lights out shooting at a 60% clip from three-point range.
Here’s a quote from Gilas Pilipinas coach Thomas (Tab) Baldwin on what kind of effect Teodosic had on the floor:
“I think Milos Teodosic presents a lot of problems. His ball screenplay was tough for us to handle,” shared Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin moments after the match at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall. “We changed our defense and we started showing up on the screen, trying to take the ball out of his hands, and that was effective to some degree,” he added, as Teodosic committed four turnovers. “But just sort of his ability to get the ball to the right people in the right occasions, with Boban scoring big and scoring late, and Milos controlling the offensive game. Our defense was always under pressure by those guys.”
Teodosic is just one of those players that no matter how old they get, will always have a knack for the game and this is one of the main reasons why he is still a valuable piece for Serbia’s national team. And he is also a player whom Baldwin wants his players — especially the guards — to learn from, given his pedigree.
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What you could look forward to for Philippine basketball
The “all college” Gilas team put on a show for the ages, almost defeating a team that we were obliterated by two years ago in the Fiba World Cup. Albeit Serbia was without the reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and gunners Bogdan Bogdanović and Nemanja Bjelica.
The team garnered high praise from Serbia’s coach Igor Kokoskov after the visiting Filipinos almost beat his team in front of their home crowd in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Tagged as an underdog, the Philippines pushed the home team to the limit before Serbia pulled away in the final two minutes on the back of Dallas Mavericks’ 7-foot-3 giant Boban Marjanovic for the 83-76 win.
“I would like to congratulate the Philippine team for playing really good, playing together as a unit,” Kokoskov said.
Kokoskov, who has coached for multiple NBA teams, also tipped his hat to Philippines counterpart Tab Baldwin.
“Coach Baldwin has done a great job, a dear friend of mine. I think he has done an awesome job. His team played really together and they were competing,” Kokoskov said.
An unshaken group of men
With an average age of 22 years old, the Filipinos’ experience paled in comparison to the Serbians, who have an average age of 29 and have six players who are at least 30.
But the all-cadet team looked undeterred as they swung a 40-56 deficit in the third quarter to a 67-67 deadlock early in the final salvo off a Carl Tamayo three-point basket and a Mike Nieto runner.
Gilas Pilipinas missed the services of Dwight Ramos, its leading scorer in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Ramos sat out against Serbia as he continues to recover from a strained groin he suffered a week ago. With Ramos out that is an easy 15-16 points gone and the team sorely missed his sharpshooting and playmaking.
Image from Manila Bulletin
But coach Tab’s system does not rely on one player or isolation basketball, his system is all about player and ball movement. Taking your time with the offense and look for the best shot possible.
This tenacious group of youngsters is the future of Philippine basketball and there is no doubt about it. They didn’t back down from the challenge of battling a powerhouse such as Serbia nor did they show any rattle when they were down by as much as 16 points.
The future is bright for Philippine basketball people! We have a system that allows us to maximize the potential of our young players and as well as a world-class coach in Tab Baldwin,
Names to look out for in the future are Angelo Kouame, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Carl Tamayo, and Kai Sotto. These names are a few of those that will lead the Philippines in the future and bring back glory to our people and our country.
Sources:
ESPN, RAPPLER, FIBA, The TIEBREAKER TIMES