GILAS Pilipinas chalked up a second straight victory after routing a tall and athletic Elev8 side, 93-84, on Sunday night in their tune-up match in Miami, Florida.
Relying once more on good ball movement, the nationals patiently worked their way to cut down to size an Elev8 side mostly composed of players from the NBA D-League and several collegiate standouts in the US NCAA.
“Good game and win today vs the Elev8 selection. Great ball movement. We're getting better,” said Gilas assistant coach Josh Reyes, son of national coach Chot Reyes in his official Twitter account @josh_reyes.
On Saturday, Gilas utilized its speed, crisp passing, and razor-sharp defense to clobber the Miami Pro-Am squad, 95-74.
The national squad, which spent the first seven days in South Beach polishing on its defense and strengthening its chemistry, drew big contributions from new naturalized center Andray Blatche, reigning PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo, and Japeth Aguilar to dispose their American counterparts in the final period.
Defense played a huge role for Gilas’ 21-point romp after holding the Miami Pro-Am squad to just 14 points in the final quarter.
On the other hand, Aguilar, Fajardo, and even Gabe Norwood got away with a lot of easy buckets in transition late in the game en route to the huge romp.
Marc Pingris said the team still has a long way to go in its build up for the FIBA-World Cup in Spain, though the 21-point rout is a step in the right direction.
“Mahirap pero kailangan tanggapin mo ito (training camp) dahil para sa bayan at sa pamilya natin ito,” Pingris told Spin.ph on Sunday.
“Pero super galing nila(Miami Pro-Am) at matatangkad,” he added.
The two tune-up games are part of Gilas’ ongoing build up for the world championship set to start on Aug. 30.
Gilas kicks off its match in the world championships against Croatia on Aug. 30, followed by matches against Greece on Aug. 31, Argentina on Sept. 1, Puerto Rico on Sept. 3, and Senegal on Sept. 4.
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