THIRDY Ravena took full responsibility for his missed free throws which dampened an other impressive performance in Gilas Pilipinas' 88-63 defeat to New Zealand on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The woeful 3-for-10 shooting from the charity stripe was the only blemish for Ravena on a night when he anchored the Philippine side with his 23 points, five rebounds, five assists, five steals, and one block.
"I guess it's just one of those days," the Japan B.League mainstay said after Gilas' first loss in two games in the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifier.
But it wasn't just him as the entire Gilas team struggled from the 15-foot line as they shot a collective 10-of-23 as a collective. His fellow Japan B.Leaguer Dwight Ramos also missed five of his nine free throws.
Ravena, though, understands that working on the simplest things like free throws should be of big help for him, not only in his next Gilas campaigns but also for his professional career with San-En NeoPhoenix in the Japan B.League.
Thirdy to put in the work
"Personally, I still need to work on my free throws a lot more. Free throws can cost a game. It might not be as seen [as much] in this particular game, but it can definitely cost games in the future," he said.
Ravena's struggles aren't exclusive to this Gilas run as he also shoots a below-par 65-percent from the free throw line in his 29 games in Japan - making it all the more important for him to clean up these mistakes.
"It's one point and one point can make a whole lot of difference in a basketball game. So that will be [one thing that we need] to work on especially if we were able to get a lot of opportunities to get on the line," said the 6-foot-3 high-flyer.
"We don't waste those opportunities like that and we have to make the most out of every single one.. So that's it for me. I got to make some free throws and I got to work on it a whole lot more."