MANILA – Dominican Republic refuses to take Gilas Pilipinas for granted ahead of their 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup group stage encounter tonight at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
According to head coach Nestor Garcia, the Philippine men’s basketball team cannot be underestimated since it is going to be led by Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson as a naturalized player.
“Jordan Clarkson is a starter and we know he’s very dangerous. He produced a lot of things for them,” Garcia said in an interview following their arrival in the country on Tuesday.
“The Philippines has shooters that run the court. They have big guys. They try to attack everytime. They are a very aggressive team,” he added. “So we cannot take them for granted.”
Garcia further said that, even if the Dominican Republic is the favored team with its NBA duo of Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lester Quiñones of the Golden State Warriors, they also have to prepare for the crowd support on Gilas.
“We expect that it is going to be noisy out there,” Garcia said, pertaining to the expected pro-Gilas Pilipinas crowd inside the Iglesia ni Cristo-owned venue. “But it will be a motivation for us.”
On the part of Gilas Pilipinas, head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes said they have already made the necessary preparations against the Dominicans, based on the notes from the scouting done by assistant coach Tim Cone.
The long-time national men’s basketball team coach added that their primary focus is to stop Towns and Quinones as well as the other experienced international players from the Dominicans’ roster.
“The Dominican Republic has very established players with a couple of NBA players on its roster,” Reyes said. “The whole team is just focusing now on what needs to be done to give us a chance of pulling off a victory.”
Bannering Gilas Pilipinas team are naturalized player Jordan Clarkson and PBA veterans June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Roger Pogoy, Jamie Malonzo, Jaymar Perez and team captain Earl Scottie Thompson.
Completing the 12 are Japan and Korea-based players Rhenz Abando, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kai Sotto and Ilonggo Kiefer Ravena, who is making a return to the FIBA World Cup stage.
After the Dominican Republic, the Philippine men’s basketball team will next battle Angola this Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum before closing their group stage game against Italy on Tuesday./PN
