GILAS Pilipinas 3x3 was left black and blue after the first day of the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz, Austria on Wednesday.
After losing 21-12 to Qatar and 21-11 to Slovenia, the Filipinos' bid to earn one of three berths to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics look more distant than ever. They need a miracle on Friday just to get one of the top two spots in Pool C.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) program director for 3x3 Ronnie Magsanoc, however, believes that the losses should only serve as fuel for Gilas 3x3 as it now fights for its life for its remaining games.
"Hopefully, the experience learned from playing in the first two games will help the team compete better in our last two outings," he said.
So lackadaisical were the Filipinos on opening day that they took a beating on social media - and with good reason.
Abdulrahman Saad and Nedim Muslic torched the nets in Gilas' game against Qatar, drilling five deuces, while Simon Finzgar and Gaspar Ovnik also canned a combined five long bombs for Slovenia.
The Philippines, meanwhile, had no answers as Joshua Munzon found himself caged by the defense while CJ Perez had difficulty finding his range from deep.
Add to that the evident size disadvantage with Mo Tautuaa and Santi Santillan pressed to defend bigger foes and Gilas 3x3 truly found themselves as tremendous underdogs in the OQT.
Nevertheless, Magsanoc isn't losing hope and promised that the Filipinos will retool and fight stronger on Friday for their remaining games.
"We will keep preparing hard for the next two matches," he said.
Gilas 3x3 will play Dominican Republic (0-2) at 5:50 p.m. and France (2-0) at 7:55 p.m., needing a sweep of those matches to have a puncher's chance of snagging one of the top two spots in Pool C.
Aside from that, the Philippines will hope that Slovenia (1-1) and either of France and Qatar go winless in their Friday assignments and force a three-way deadlock. If that happens, the team with the highest total points scored will advance to the knockout rounds.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
