Uichico hopes Gilas five fine-tune game in prelims

CHANGSHA – Heading to the FIBA Asia tournament proper, Gilas Pilipinas assistant coach Jong Uichico said the team is still suffering “downtime” in their game.

That’s why he’s looking forward to their preliminary-round games, hoping it would help the Nationals be more consistent and fluid in time for the bigger matches.

“There are times we don’t run our game well. We’re not yet consistent in a 40-minute game. We must develop a solid 40-minute game,” Uichico said.

 “We’re all cramming. That’s why our first three games are important. It would add up to our buildup. Maybe from that, you can gauge how far this team can go,” Uichico also said.

At the moment, Uichico said it’s hard to say if they’re already prepared for teams like Iran and China.

“We’ll see that in our showing in the first round. That’s a good gauge if we’re ready to battle in the succeeding rounds,” he said.

In the last FIBA Asia Championship in Manila in 2013, Gilas topped its group in the elims then rolled past Kazakhstan in the quarters and South Korea in the semis to set up a gold-medal showdown with Iran.

The Nationals battle in Changsha with some variations in their system in the Manila joust.

“Almost the same. Nagpasok lang ng konti nyang sariling system si coach Tab (Baldwin) both on offense and defense,” said Uichico.

“Of course, the other difference is Andray Blatche and the other new guys. But one important thing is that the guys go along well. Maganda ang samahan ng team,” he added.