FIBA Asia watch: Reyes awed by Gilas’ rivals

MANILA, Philippines – Before leaving for New Zealand, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes followed the Jones Cup and the Stankovic Continental Cup, and gaped at the awesome form of their chief Asian rivals, particularly, China, Iran, Korea and Chinese Taipei.

“(We’re) watching all d Jones & Stanko Cup games. China, Iran, Korea, Taipei look real sharp. We got our work cut out for us,” said Reyes on his Twitter account during their long 22-hour journey to Napier city in New Zealand.

China outperformed Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Germany and Australia, finishing second behind Argentina in the Stankovic Continental Cup in Guangzhou.

Yi Jianlian collected 22 points and nine rebounds for the Chinese who bowed to the Argentines, 44-61, in the finale.

Next up for the Chinese, the FIBA Asia Championship reigning titlists, is a tri-nation tourney with Macedonia and Montenegro on July 19-21 in Kunshan, Suzhou.

Over in Taipei, the host team, South Korea and Iran all chalked up stirring wins Tuesday to continue to pace the field in the Jones Cup – the traditional warmup tourney to Asian meets.

The Taiwanese clobbered the Jordanians, 91-61; the Koreans whipped the Lebanese, 61-52; and the Iranians toppled the Egyptians, 90-54.

Team USA nailed its first win in three starts, walloping Taipei B, 101-69.

Korea and Iran stayed running first and second at 4-0 and 3-0, respectively, followed by Chinese Taipei at 3-1.

Gilas Pilipinas takes on Chinese Taipei on the third day of the 27th FIBA Asia Cup preliminary round on Aug. 3. If the Filipinos would make it all the way to the Asian meet medal plays, they would likely cross paths with the Koreans, the Iranians and the Chinese in the knockout stage.

With only three weeks to go before the start of the Asian war, Reyes insists they still have a lot of catching up to do.

The Gilas chief bench tactician, however, is hopeful their 10-day New Zealand training would help them get better and eventually get ready to pursue their mission of clinching a FIBA World Cup ticket in the FIBA Asia event slated Aug. 1-11 in Manila.

The Asian championship has become a lot more highly competitive with all major contenders, except China and Iran, boosting their rosters with naturalized players.

Gilas’ Marcus Douthit will be pitted with Chinese Taipei’s Quincy Davis, Lebanon’s Loren Woods, Jordan’s Jimmy Baxter, Japan’s JR Sakuragi (formerly JR Henderson), Qatar’s Jarvin Hayes, Kazakhstan’s Jerry Johnson, Bahrain’s CJ Giles and Korea’s Lee Seung-jun (Eric Sandrin) or Moon Tae-young (Greg Stevenson).

Deadline of submission of the 12-man lineup in the 16-nation meet is tomorrow.