AS expected, Tyler Lamb displayed a lot of quality for Thailand in their gold-medal clash with the Philippines in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Unfortunately for him, he was the only one who shared the same quality as Gilas Pilipinas.
Lamb had to watch from the bench as Thailand settled for another silver-medal finish in the biennial games following a 115-81 beatdown at the hands of the Philippines last Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines.
Lamb was taken out with less than two minutes in the game with 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the loss - and his efforts were certainly not lost on the Philippine crowd as he was received with an ovation the moment he walked to the bench.
“You know me, I’m a competitor first, I know how basketball goes and I’ve been playing it for a long time and the fact that they cheered for me when I was coming out of this game, it gives me appreciation and it reassures me that I am doing things right, it feels good,” Lamb said.
The 28-year-old did admit that it is not fun playing second fiddle to the Philippines anew, but he knows that this will only make his team better in the long run.
“It never feels good to lose but I said, this is a good test for our Thai guys and we faced a very good Philippine team, now we know what we have to work on, I mean we see the score but all in all, I’m happy with everything.”

The game was also a reunion of sorts for Lamb and Gilas slotman Christian Standhardinger who played together in the 2017-18 Asean Basketball League season for Hong Kong Eastern.
And for Lamb, it’s in moments like this where he truly feels the true essence of basketball.
“That’s my guy, I talk to him still on social media. For me to be able to see him, to see Stanley [Pringle], that’s the beauty of basketball, it brings people together,” Lamb said.
“Just like this, the Philippine crowd, clapping for me and giving me a round of applause when I came out of the game.”
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