FOSHAN – The Andray Blatche that showed up in the Gilas Pilipinas game against Angola was more of the good old Andray Blatche that Filipinos are used to.
And Gilas is hoping it will unravel more in its last two games in the FIBA World Cup.
After a bland outing in Gilas’ lopsided loss to Italy and an even more horrific stint in the blowout to Serbia, Blatche registered his best game here, lining his stats with 23 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and four steals in the Angola overtime loss.
“He played a lot better today, the effort was there,” Gilas coach Yeng Guiao said of the naturalized player.
“Of course, they were also attacking him defensively so he’s going to be a focal point of the other team but despite that, I guess he produced his numbers, which wasn’t the case in the last two games,” said Guiao.
The Gilas mentor stressed that once Blatche gets going, the team does, too.
“If Blatche is playing well, we have a chance, which was what exactly happened (against Angola),” he said.