Chot says Gilas goals achieved in Europe training camp

FOR Gilas Pilipinas, its European trip is mission accomplished.

Mostly, that is.

The Nationals under Chot Reyes concluded their training camp in Europe with a very positive outlook, confident that they are right on track in their preparations for the Fiba Basketball World Cup.

Gilas is now bound for Manila following a three-week build-up considered fruitful by the coaching staff, capped by a convincing win over Lithuania’s World University Games team that saw a lot of positives.

READ: Pogoy cleared to rejoin Gilas practice

“Saved our best for last,” wrote Gilas assistant coach Tim Cone on his Twitter account after Gilas beat Lithuania, 125-102. “Gilas played a really focused game. Played our best game against our strongest opponent this trip.”

Reyes agreed that they are now a different team compared to their first tune-up game in Estonia where the conditioning and team play especially on defense was wanting.

The improvements were clearly seen in the game against Lithuania.

“It definitely showed the improvements,” said Reyes. “Like I said postgame, what was truly impressive was the effort of the players, effort to defend, dive for loose balls, but also the effort to play together. I think that’s very important.”

“It was good that we played 12-minute quarters to extend the players. Like I said, I think our game conditioning level from Game One to (the game against Lithuania has improved).

"Remember Game One, even Justin (Brownlee) cramped up. Today, he played 30 minutes. Those are the things that we wanted to look at and set as objectives in this trip,” said Reyes.

PHOTO: sbp

Reyes said Gilas is already starting to improve on the defensive side of the game, in contrast to what he lamented in previous tune-up games.

“The defense that we had from Game One to Game Six is already like night and day. All the work that we put in on perfecting our defense is starting to show,” said Reyes.

But Reyes said there is no room to celebrate at this stage of their preparation as they now look to continue improving in their World Cup build-up.

“But still, we all know that we are still a lot of work to be down. We are still a work in progress. But I must admit that I’m pretty satisfied with our game (against Lithuania),” he said.

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