FIBA World Cup 2023: Gilas Faces Must-Win Situation Against Angola

from PBA.ph

Gilas Pilipinas' Jordan Clarkson at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Photo: fiba.basketball

Gilas Pilipinas is eyeing a quick turnaround in its FIBA World Cup campaign as focus now shifts on the task of winning over Angola on Sunday to stay alive of advancing into the next round of the group phase.

The game is set at 8 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in a virtual do-or-die match for both the Filipinos and Angolans, who lost their respective opening game in Group A of the tournament on Friday.

Angola fell to world no. 10 Italy, 81-67, while the Philippines lost a heartbreaker against Dominican Republic, 87-81.

A second straight loss for either teams meant relegation to the classification phase.

Coach Chot Reyes stressed the team can't cry over spilled milk following the loss against the Dominicans, who the Filipinos engaged in a tightly-fought game before crumbling in the end following the fifth and final foul committed by main man Jordan Clarkson.

"We can't worry about that now. We have to focus on our next game," he said. "Quick turnaround for us and we got to get ready for Angola."

Reyes said the game against Angola, ranked a notch lower than the Philippines at no. 41, will very much like what Gilas went through against Dominican Republic.

"It's going to be the same story against Angola. So high scoring or low scoring, for me it doesn't really matter," said Reyes.

"We can walk it up the floor every single time and make sure that it's a low-scoring ball game. But that's not the way we play the game," added the national coach. "The big thing for us is to play our pace, fast pace, accelerated pace, but under control, making sure that we're imposing our game on the other team." (RG)