IT’S not a case of looking past Chinese Taipei that led Gilas Pilipinas to drop its first game in the 31st FIBA Asia Cup.
For AJ Edu, it’s more of a matchup between two heavyweight fighters wherein one didn’t fight with urgency.
“We got punched early, and we didn’t punch back,” was how in simple terms the young big man described Gilas’ 95-87 loss against the Taiwanese early Wednesday morning at the Abdul Allah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
READ: Chinese Taipei shoots down Gilas in stunning FIBA Asia Cup opener
Edu obviously was referring to the early struggles of the national team, who fell by as large as 27-10 in the first quarter and never really got into the game where the Filipinos tried to play catchup the rest of the way.
He added Gilas certainly didn’t take Chinese Taipei for granted especially after losing to the same team last February, 91-84, at the tail-end of the Asia Cup qualification.
“It was not a thing of underestimating them. We knew how good they (Taiwanese) they were coming into this game,” said the 24-year-old big man.
With Gilas veteran June Mar Fajardo struggling from the floor, the 6-foot-10 Edu became the primary force for Gilas in the middle and submitted decent numbers of eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds on an efficient 4-of-9 shooting from the field.
But he admitted he and the rest of the Gilas players didn’t do much to match up Chinese Taipei’s intense level.
“The coaches can give us all the schemes and prepare us all they can. But us guys on the court got to take responsibility as well,” Edu said.
“We just have to step up. It’s just on us as players to step up knowing how good they are.”
Edu describes the loss as ‘a tough one’ especially since Gilas Pilipinas will be up next against the New Zealand Tall Blacks.
The two sides clash on Thursday night (11 p.m. Manila time), with the Tall Blacks coming off a 100-78 demolition of Iraq.
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