Gilas Pilipinas mas magiging mabagsik

MANILA, Philippines — Mas nagiging solido na ang galaw ng Gilas Pi­lipinas kaya’t asahang mas lalo itong magiging mabangis sa kanilang mga susunod na laban.

Tiwala si Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone sa kakayahan ng kanyang bataan lalo pa’t maganda ang ipinakita nito sa FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament sa Riga, Latvia.

Partikular na tinukoy nito ang solidong kumbinasyon nina seven-time PBA MVP June Mar Fa­jardo at Kai Sotro na ma­gi­ging pamatay sa mga susunod na laro.

“You can see they built their game plan there by doubling Fajardo, as if he’s playing in the PBA, even if we were playing seven-footers,” ani Cone.

dahil sa soliong laro ni Fajardo kasama pa si na­turalized player Justin Brownlee ay nahirapan nang husto ang mga kari­bal ng Gilas Pilipinas.

Sa katunayan ay ginulantang ng Gilas Pilipinas ang World No. 6 Latvia sa group stage ng torneo.

“He was more than hol­ding his own and I think coaches, when they play against him, outside Justin of course, what can they do with June Mar? They know they can’t handle June Mar one-on-one, because he’s a dominant force,” ani Cone.

Solido rin ang laro ni Sotto na nagiging mabag­sik na sa bawat laro ng Gi­las Pilipinas.

“The fact he (Fajardo) can play with Kai, that kind of put them in quandary with other teams, because who do you put on?” sabi ni Cone.

Nagtala si Fajardo ng 11 points, 5 rebounds at 3 steals sa 89-80 panalo ng Gilas kontra sa Latvia.

Humataw naman si Sotto ng 18 points at 8 boards.

“If you can just envision these two players playing comfortably with each other and then add AJ Edu and keep these two fresh, if you can envision that these guys getting better in system and play better with each other, how good can they become?” dagdag ni Cone.