THIRDY Ravena understands that if Gilas Pilipinas makes the same gaffes against India when they face New Zealand, the Philippines is in for a long night.
"With the mistakes we made earlier, they will definitely punish us when we make it in that game. So we have to improve some of our technicalities and some of our tactics in the game," he said after the Philippines took its first win in the 2022 Fiba Asia Cup on Friday.
Gilas committed 13 turnovers in the game and was whistled for 21 fouls, but weathered those miscues as its defense held itself and forced India to 21 miscues to its name.
"We know India's a very fast-paced team and they would run out in transition whenever you make mistakes off turnovers or when we make bad shots. And if we don’t get our matchups quickly, they’re just gonna run us out. So luckily, we were able to bounce back from that in the second half."
Thirdy Ravena and the Philippine team face a tough task against New Zealand.
That's India. New Zealand will be a different story.
"We talked about it in the first half that we played a little too down, a little too grumpy. It just goes to show that when you play as a team and you enjoy each other’s success, when you follow the system and trust one another, things will definitely pay off," Ravena said.
And as high as Gilas' morale is, the hunger must still be there if it wants to score the upset on Sunday.
"Although we won the game with a little bit of a margin, we can’t be satisfied we have another game against New Zealand. They’re very, very strong team," said Ravena.
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.
