TAB Baldwin was at the heart of the action as Gilas Pilipinas fell flat in the final minutes of their 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup opener to Dominican Republic on Friday at the Philippine Arena.
READ: Gilas' brave stand against Dominican Republic falls just short
The former Gilas tactician gave his assessment on an eventful first act for Jordan Clarkson in this year's global showpiece.
"I thought Gilas did a good job controlling the pace of the game and they needed to do that in order to give Jordan Clarkson as many efficient minutes as he was able to play. And I use the word ‘efficient’ loosely because his shooting wasn’t great at nine-of-24 and of course he had the eight turnovers," Baldwin said in Kom Noli Eala's Power and Play program on Saturday.
"Nonetheless, he anchors that offense as we all see and we all expected that to be the case. We saw the magic that he can weave in creating shots and in scoring, which really right up to the end kept Gilas in the game," he added.
Clarkson's game-high 27 markers could not get the hosts over the line in front of a record-breaking 38,115-strong crowd in Bocaue, Bulacan.
This, however, came on top of eight turnovers and a late disqualification in the final frame.
"The fouling out was really unfortunate. I thought the fourth foul was the real killer because he was hustling for a loose ball under the basket and just picked up a foul," Baldwin explained.
"The fifth was just Jordan trying to create offense. He did hook the defender with his elbow. Probably, it was a reaction call by the referee. Maybe if the referee had been composed about the situation, he might not have called that in putting the star player on the bench with three and some minutes to go," he added.
For the champion tactician, it was a winnable game for Gilas that was unfortunately decided and lost at the very end.
"Gilas offense had to shift from something they had been doing for 36 plus minutes to something different. Dominican (Republic) had a big advantage at that point and was able to just close it out. The game was lost in the last few minutes, but they haven’t been in that position so that’s tough for them," Baldwin bared.
Overdependence on JC?
Baldwin had a strong stance on a 'thin line of argument' raised about Gilas' supposed overdependence on the Utah Jazz ace.
"I don’t think we’d ever thought it would be different (especially for) anybody that followed Gilas and followed the selection of a naturalized player and going for Jordan over a big who can dominate the boards and defend the rim," Baldwin said.
"We gave up 87 points last night, a lot of that at the rim. We only had three offensive rebounds. That side of the argument is strong when you look at those numbers and you look at Jordan’s efficiency," he added.
But for Baldwin, there's no denying that Clarkson's style of play, risky as it may be, kept Gilas in the fight.
"Nonetheless, we played a very strong Dominican team and we were in it right up ’til the end. Fans can say what they want, but the selection of Jordan and the style of play kept us in the game against a very fancied opponent that could’ve swung either way. All the doubters were just trying to exploit a very thin line of argument," Baldwin explained.
'Point guard problem' a cause of concern?
The lack of a 'true point guard' was among key areas of contention by some Gilas fans anew.
Baldwin, however, refuses to acknowledge the outdated narrative of 'positional basketball' in the modern game.
"I think people need to stop talking about positional basketball. We have ‘ball carriers’ and this is probably the term people need to start using," Baldwin asserted.
"Scottie Thompson’s a ball carrier. Kiefer (Ravena) is certainly an excellent ball carrier. He played extremely well in the first half last night. Dwight Ramos is a confident ball carrier. Of course, Jordan is a good ball carrier, so we don’t have problems there."
And in terms of Gilas' attacking style of play as embodied by Clarkson, turnovers prove to be an inevitable risk tagged with the in-game approach of Chot Reyes' wards.
"I think the 19 turnovers, and Jordan had 8 of those, were really a byproduct of the style of play where we use an attacking style of play. We’re attacking the rim all the time and trying to collapse defenses and kick out to shooters," Baldwin said.
"We had a little bit of limited success doing that with Roger (Pogoy) and Scottie hitting a couple of threes, but that is the modern style of play for a lot of teams. No matter how you create that penetration, whether it’s isolation or ball screens, that’s what people are doing," he added.
In closing, Baldwin stood firm on how Gilas' alleged point guard dilemma is a non-existent problem considering how the game has evolved at the international level.
"Gilas had a guy that could create, get in the paint, and score in Jordan Clarkson but anytime you have that style of play, you’re gonna have to live with a few more turnovers. But we don’t have a ‘point guard problem,'" Baldwin reiterated.
"No one in international basketball is using all-out pressing defenses to cause turnovers, so you have to have guys that can get the ball more and initiate your offense."
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