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    Sharp-shooting bigs of Lithuania expose defensive problems for Gilas

    Chot says Lithuanian bigs exactly what Gilas has to deal with at World Cup
    Jul 6, 2023
    japeth aguilar, june mar fajardo, cj perez, gilas lithuania
    PHOTO: sbp

    WITH Ange Kouame on board, Gilas Pilipinas has begun trying out different combinations in their big man rotation in its most recent tune-up game in Lithuania.

    Coach Chot Reyes said the game against a select team of Lithuania professional players forced June Mar Fajardo to defend bigs who can shoot from the outside and Japeth Aguilar playing the power forward position.

    READ: Gilas loses to eight-man Lithuanian selection

    Reyes said the gambit, which had mixed results in the 90-80 defeat to Lithuania, is what they will continue to work on in the next coming days knowing that they will be facing tall teams in the Fiba Basketball World Cup.

    “We tried a different starting line-up this time,” said Reyes after the loss to the Lithuanian team. “Different combinations. We tried to start Justin [Brownlee] at the three spot. We tried to start Japeth at the four spot. He has been playing the five spot the past few games. But now that we have Ange, we wanted to play Japeth a little bit more on the four.

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      “Obviously it didn’t work. We got off to a 17-1 start or something. But the good thing is that’s part of why we are here - to figure out different combinations, different line-ups, to know that nothing is better, there’s no powerful knowledge more than experience.

      "Now that we’ve had that first-hand experience, the players should now know better. That’s part of the learning process and the lessons that we came here to learn,” said Reyes.

      Gilas faced an eight-man Lithuania team that, Reyes said, was perfect to learn from with its outside shooting threat. The hosts made 12 three-pointers including six from Slovakia pro league campaigner Tomas Zdanavicius, who was guarded by Fajardo for most of the contest.

      gilas practice

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      “We wanted to play a team who had five shooters because we wanted to see how we can get June Mar defending ball screens, pick-and-pops against three-point shooters. We saw what happened. June Mar had 10 points in the first half but his man (Zdanavicius) had 20 points. That’s something that we need to work on. It’s an area what unless we really experience it, we won’t really know how to address it."

      Reyes said the structure of the Lithuania selection is exactly what they are expecting to face come the Fiba Basketball World Cup when they play Italy, Dominican Republic, and Angola.

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      “Again, learning experience for us. It’s now upon us to come in practice and figure out ways to defend when we have a situation like that when there are three-point shooting outside, shooting big man on the opposing team."

      "Those are the things that we wanted to learn. That’s why we played a team like this because we knew that this is the kind of players we are going to face. That June Mar is going to face. It’s not only June Mar. It’s everyone helping out, rotating and being able to stop that. Good learning for us,” said Reyes.

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