SEVILLE, Spain – Coach Chot Reyes and the 12 brave souls making up Gilas Pilipinas, with their uncanny, unorthodox playing style, made their mark in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, really proving they belong, they can compete and they can win.
They did, thus, breaking camp in this laid-back, ancient Spanish city with high spirits going home then going to another battle in the next few days.
They didn’t make the knockout stage in Madrid and Barcelona but left an imprint in the tourney as “a hell of a team.”
Team Phl, absent in the quadrennial global cagefest for 36 years, returned to the scene as a mysterious team, competing with powerhouse opponents with tremendous guts and a kind of game unfamiliar to everyone here.
The result was a memorable showing marked by near upsets of Croatia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, a fighting stand against Greece and a stirring overtime triumph over Senegal.
For Reyes, the biggest factor was the game that they formulated, embraced and stuck with in five days of cutthroat WC battle.
“Every coach has told us directly we’re the most difficult team to scout. Their exact term is that ‘we’re hell to scout,’” said Reyes.
“They don’t have an idea because we don’t call a play,” said Reyes of their game which he said is neither Euro style nor American type," he added.
“If we play the Euro style, we couldn’t ‘out-Greek’ Greece. We couldn’t ‘out-Croatia’ Croatia because of their size and experience. We’ll be beaten by 20 30 points,” the Gilas coach pointed out. “We couldn’t play the American style because we don’t have the ability of the Americans.”
Reyes had thought and proved right that the only way to compete here is playing a completely different style.
“That’s why we play the way we play. It’s not scientific, ‘de numero’ and precise as the other teams. But as you can see, it’s effective,” he said.
“We’re the most difficult team to scout as the other teams insisted. Andray (Blatche) would play 4 spot, sometimes 5 spot and sometimes he’s there in the corner. Then our guards were of different sets every single game,” he added.
Reyes was not surprised they played their best against Croatia and Senegal.
“To be honest when we saw our competition, our analysis was that our best chances were the first game and the last game,” Reyes said.
“Baka magulat natin ang Croatia because they didn’t know us. Sure enough, those games ended in overtime, one shot from going to the second round,” Reyes added.
A big bonus was their near upset of world No. 3 Argentina. But it raised the expectation of the Filipino people on Gilas on its last two games against Puerto Rico and Senegal.
“Sumama ang loob natin dahil di natin alam na didikit tayo sa first four games natin. Expectation grew big, but from the start our thinking was, for us to get to the next round, our best chance is to beat Croatia and Senegal. And that’s what exactly happened,” Reyes said.
For his own assessment of their showing, Reyes said: “Now we know we deserve to be in the second round. Before the tournament, we thought it’s 50-50. Now we know we deserve to be in the second round.
“The best way to describe it, we’re happy with the win but regret not getting to the second round.”