Nationals stumble early

MANILA, Philippines — The weather in the Japanese city of Nagoya was gloomy and so was the start of Gilas Pilipinas’ title-retention campaign at the 20th Asian Games yesterday.

Wading into combat without Justin Brownlee, the Nationals fought with all their strength but ultimately fell short against a Bahrain side bannered by four naturalized players, 85-89, in the basketball opener at the Aichi International Arena.

The result meant coach Tim Cone and his all-Filipino troops now need to bounce back strongly and pick up a W today against fellow first-day loser Kazakhstan to stay in the chase for a quarterfinal spot in Group C.

The Kazakhs were manhandled by China hours before Gilas took the floor, 99-61.

With Brownlee (health issues) and other naturalized bets Ange Kouame (club commitment) and Bennie Boatwright (eligibility) out of the equation, the Philippine quintet had big shoes to fill.

It found a willing and able take-charge guy in Calvin Oftana, the only member of the triumphant team in 2023 in Hangzhou who’s back for the repeat bid.

Oftana rifled in 31 points on a six-of-nine shooting from beyond the arc in a sizzling performance that validated Cone’s decision to tap him at the last minute to take Gilas’ 12th spot vice Brownlee. 

The sweet-shooting TNT forward was mainly responsible for getting Gilas back in the game – and even taking a 43-41 lead – after falling behind by double-digit margins early on.

But ultimately, the size and firepower of Bahrain, especially 6-foot-7 JaKarr Sampson (24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists) and 6-foot-9 Elijah Thomas (20-4-3), proved too much for Gilas to overcome.

“We’re very disappointed with the way we played. We expect a lot more out of ourselves. But this is only the first game of the tournament so we’ve got to move on. We feel and we know we can play better than today and I think we will,” said Cone.

Though Gilas had more rebounds, 51 to 35, Cone admitted the difficulty of handling Bahrain’s size.

It also didn’t help that the Filipinos fired mostly blanks  – 29 percent from deep against Bahrain’s 43 percent and 38 percent overall field goal versus the latter’s red-hot 53 percent.

Gilas found itself facing a 51-76 deficit after Bahrain’s 27-18 bombardment in the third.

The separation was enough for the West Asian side to claim the victory despite the Filipinos’ searing fightback.

If it’s any consolation, Gilas finished the game strong, outplaying the Bahrainis in the final canto, 24-13.