Toroman rates Gilas Champs Cup stint a '7'

MANILA, Philippines - National basketball team coach Rajko Toroman said yesterday there is “a lot of space to improve” Smart Gilas as he rated its performance in the recently-concluded FIBA-Asia Champions Cup a seven on a scale of 1 to 10.

Although Toroman rated Gilas’ showing against Mahram of Iran an eight or nine, he was unforgiving in grading the losing effort in the Al Rayyan of Qatar game a three.

Gilas was a three-point shot away from forcing overtime in the Mahram semifinal contest and missed two attempts in the final possession to lose an 80-77 heartbreaker last Saturday. The next day, Gilas played listlessly in bowing to Al Rayyan, 71-64, in the playoff for third place.

“The Iran game was close and we never gave up,” said Toroman. “It was a great effort. We showed fighting spirit against an opponent that is the best in Asia reinforced by two imports. We played well in all our games except Qatar. We tried to jell with our PBA players (Dondon Hontiveros and Asi Taulava). We can see the quality of our play has gone up. But there is a lot of space to improve. Tactically, we need more experience and we hope to be able to get that from Kelly (Williams) and Jimmy (Alapag).”

Toroman said the defeat to Iran was a huge disappointment.

“We came very close to making it to the finals,” he went on. “I’m afraid there was a problem in officiating. I couldn’t understand it because we were the hosts. In the Iran game, we were called for 28 fouls and Iran only 13. If a Middle East team hosted, the home team wouldn’t get that many fouls, it would’ve been the opposite.”

In a pivotal leak in the last few minutes, the referees missed a traveling violation on Iran’s Samad Nikkah Bahrami and it resulted in a dagger three-point basket. 

Toroman said a third place finish would’ve been a fitting cap to Gilas’ courageous stand in a tournament where it could’ve brought in two imports but didn’t.

“It was very difficult mentally to play at a high level against Qatar after coming close to beating Iran the night before,” said Toroman. “I thought we played well defensively. Qatar’s top scorer (Targuy) Ngombo wasn’t too much of a problem for us. Marcio (Lassiter) and Chris (Lutz) matched up well in defending him. But we weren’t tough enough to get rebounds. In one play, I think Qatar had five second chances, something that happens only once in 100 games. If Kelly played, he would’ve given us a few more rebounds and the opportunity to run and get easy baskets in transition. He would’ve dramatically changed the complexion of the game.”

Toroman said Qatar’s advantage in rebounding was a killer. Al Rayyan pulled down 58 boards to Gilas’ 38. 

“Japeth (Aguilar) hit some good shots but his mind wasn’t in the game,” said Toroman. “He didn’t make good decisions. I found out he had a big personal problem and it took away his concentration. He had only one defensive rebound in almost 20 minutes of play. In his position, we needed at least seven rebounds to compete against Qatar.”

Toroman said the rebounding deficiency was evident in giving up 20 offensive rebounds to Al Rayyan. “Marcus (Douthit) proved to everyone he’s the kind of player we need but we could use one more very good rebounder,” said Toroman. “Qatar brought in their best national players with two American imports. We didn’t play like we did in the previous games. We were totally empty. We had no energy. We gave our maximum against Iran. We tried to fire up the team with a positive atmosphere. But we were so disappointed in losing to Iran and it made a big difference. We couldn’t make shots when we were still in the game.”

Toroman said there is no doubt in his mind that with the Gilas program in place and Williams and Alapag joining the team for the FIBA-Asia Championships in September, the team will be competitive.

“We resume practice on Monday with Kelly and Jimmy joining us,” said Toroman. “I’ve always mentioned how we need to strengthen our position four. Kelly will do that. Jimmy’s experience and outside shooting will help. I really appreciate what Jimmy is doing for us. He comes to all our practices and encourages the players. How soon they’ll be able to join us for competitions depends on when the PBA third conference ends. There is a chance for us to play in an international tournament in Macau in September just before the FIBA-Asia Championships. I understand it will be a tough tournament with Qatar participating. That would be an opportunity for us to get experience in a tournament with Kelly, Jimmy, Dondon and Asi.”