GILAS Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin offered no excuses following the disappointing end to their Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament campaign on Friday in Belgrade.
Baldwin accepted the blame for the 94-67 loss to Dominican Republic that ended Gilas' Olympic dream but at the same time focused on the development of a young team in the lead-up to the 2023 Fiba World Cup.
The veteran coach also lauded Dominican Republic for its fine play that saw Victor Liz, Gelvis Solano, and Michael Torres Cuevas combine for 64 points to bring Gilas back to earth, a day after a close loss to world No. 5 Serbia.
“I don’t think the first half was indicative of really what the Dominican Republic is all about,” said Baldwin, whose team led by two points, 41-39, at halftime. "We know they are a tough, talented basketball team.
"In the second half, they came out very physical and came to make a statement against us. They really did. We didn’t execute what we can execute, what we should execute under the pressure. It was very disappointing in the second half for us.”
The third quarter saw Dominican Republic outscore Gilas, 26-10, and everything went south for the Philippine squad from there.

“No excuses. Not much to say about it other than we were outplayed, outcoached, and outfought. You have to give the Dominican Republic credit for the way they played and doing what they had to do to win and win convincingly,” said Baldwin.
It was a sorry end to a campaign that began with so much promise after the Philippines went toe-to-toe with host Serbia before bowing, 83-76.
At the conclusion of the Fiba OQT campaign, Baldwin looks forward to the continuation of the program as they now set their sights on the Fiba Asia Cup in Indonesia this August.
“We will now head home with lessons in our pocket. Sort of mixed campaign here with a decent performance against Serbia and a disappointing performance tonight. These young men will work hard together and will take this in the chin and learn from the lessons, and build for the future,” said Baldwin.
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