Newly formed Seaba 5 faces Visayas

CEBU, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas brings its stuff to the heartland of Visayan razzle-dazzle basketball tonight, showcasing its SEABA lineup as it takes on the PBA Visayas selection in the culmination of the 2017 PBA All-Star Week at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

The Nationals slug it out with two-time MVP winner James Yap, back-to-back Philippine Cup Finals MVP titlist Chris Ross and other Visayan stars in what could be their lone tune-up match before competing in the seven-nation SEABA joust set May 12-18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Two different sets of Gilas training teams saw action in the first two legs of the 2017 PBA All-Star festivities.

June Mar Fajardo led the Gilas squad that fought the Mindanao All-Stars to a 114-114 stalemate in Cagayan de Oro on Wednesday then a rookie-laden Gilas side pulled off a come-from-behind 122-111 win over the Luzon stars in Lucena Friday.

Jayson Castro, Japeth Aguilar and Calvin Abueva finally don the Gilas jersey in the closing game of the All-Star series, teaming up with Fajardo, Raymond Almazan, Troy Rosario, Terrence Romeo, Allein Maliksi, Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy and Jio Jalalon to form the very team that coach Chot Reyes is sending to battle in the coming FIBA Asia sub-zone tourney.

 Unless Reyes is able to set up additional tune-up matches, the Lapu-Lapu City tiff is the lone warm-up game of Team Phl before going to battle with Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar in the SEABA meet.

PBA Visayas coach Tim Cone knows so well the constraints of Gilas Pilipinas that he vows to put the toughest challenge they can offer to help boost Team Phl’s SEABA buildup.

“Our approach is that we’re there for a purpose. It’s not an All-Star game in our minds but we’re there for a purpose to get the national team ready,” the Ginebra champion coach, who has had his stint to handle the national team in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

“I don’t play zone defense. I’m not a fan of a zone defense all my life, but I’ll talk to coach Chot before the game and ask him if there’s anything he wants us to play to test Gilas,” Cone also said.

For sure, Asi Taulava said they will put up a fight.

“It’s always a privilege to play in the All-Stars because it’s really for the fans, more so now that we’re serving a higher purpose,” said Taulava.

NOTES: Andray Blatche took to Twitter to confirm he’s coming over to play for Gilas Pilipinas in the SEABA tourney. “Mga kababayan! I am so excited to be back and win for my fellow Pinoys. Please come and see us all play at SEABA. Laban! Puso!” Blatche posted on his account @drayblatche. He’s fresh from winning the Chinese league crown for his Xinjiang Tigers team.