FACING a team that thrives on crowd support, Qatar coach Tim Lewis welcomes playing the Philippines in a closed-door game Monday night in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Without the Filipinos’ vaunted ‘sixth man’ on their side for the 7 p.m. game against the Qataris, Lewis said the playing field has obviously been leveled since the visiting team also has an issue regarding health to its key players.
“Maybe if we’re in full strength, but yeah, sure it is,” said the 50-year-old Lewis when asked about not playing before an expected packed crowd shortly after Qatar held a light practice Sunday afternoon at the Big Dome.
“The Gilas camp thrives off the crowd so if we had an opportunity of having the game and having runs and obviously playing in an environment like this can be pretty daunting sometimes for our players. So I guess for us, it’s an advantage in that way.”
Lewis, who has an extensive coaching career that has seen him serve as assistant coach of the Great Britain team to the 2012 London Olympics and work with NBA teams Phoenix, Toronto, and Houston in various capacities, said he hasn’t been involved in a closed-door game before either in major or minor tournaments.
“I think in college in practice games and stuff like that, but never like in a real game,” said the British mentor, who was also former coach of the Thailand national team. “I’m sure it’s going to be different for everybody. For all players, it would be a unique experience, so we’ll see. It would be an interesting one.”
Besides, Qatar also has a concern of its own.
Lewis said the core of the team is down with different injuries that he has to make do with a roster of young and inexperienced players.
Qatar will be without naturalized player Trey Johnson, Erfan Ali Saeed, and guards Mansour El Hadary and Abdulrahman Saad.
“So for us, we got a number of younger players that are experiencing this level of basketball for the first time. It’s pretty eye-opening,” said the Qatar coach, whose team is coming off a 95-43 beating against Australia at home Thursday night.
“You play your first game ever in the international level against Australia. That could be a bit of a knock on the door for you.”
Lewis also previously worked as a consultant for Gilas Pilipinas during its campaign in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, giving him an idea of how the system under previous coach Chot Reyes was being run.
Of course, this is an entirely new team now under coach Yeng Guiao.
“It’s a different system now, some different players,” he said. “I think it’s a different Gilas team.”
Although Lewis said cohesion could be one drawback for the team, he still saw how competitive the Filipinos were in their 81-73 loss against Iran in Tehran also last week.
“They performed well against Iran and they did a good job in the Asian Games,” noted Lewis. “So the core of that team is together, and I’m sure they’ll come out and be super competitive.”
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.
