Another loss for Smart-Gilas

Lo and behold, Smart-Gilas actually lost their game against the SLR Realtors 96-95. This was one of the few times I did not finish a game because one team was well ahead of the other. I just could not imagine how SLR could manage to win the game with how SG was shooting the lights out. SG was able to build a double digit lead in the 2nd quarter and they continued to hold onto that lead until early in the 4th quarter. I don't just don't know why SLR was able to mount a comeback. Mark Barroca had a chance to save the day for Gilas but he missed the shot.

As expected, SLR pushed the Gilas boys around and got what they wanted. The Realtors were able to cut to the basket numerous times in the 1st quarter but it did not result to conversions. Marlou Aquino took the big men of Gilas to school as taught them how to post up with the big boys. Dennis Daa dominated as he scored 11 points in the 3rd quarter and it just proves that SG just can not defend players who are much bigger than them.

I think the Realtors took the game seriously but they were not exerting a lot of effort and it allowed SG to jump to a big lead. Maybe it’s just natural for the SLR players not to play as hard knowing that it was just an exhibition game. Coach Boyet Fernandez did some experimenting in his lineups as he did not use Dennis Daa at all in the 1st half but he started him in the 2nd half along with Jason Misolas. He also fielded little-used Mark Benitez in the 1st half.

In terms of officiating, the Realtors were running their mouths at the refs for most of the game. I think they had good reason to as most of the calls favored the young boys of SG. Maybe the Realtors just weren’t used to the FIBA rules. I will have to agree with the commentators that applying FIBA rules only when playing against SG is a big sacrifice for the PBA teams.

The Gilas offense still looks good. There were a lot of extra passes and it resulted to good quality shots. I saw a lot more inside incursions by the national developmental team in this game. It’s a very encouraging sign as Gilas will not be able to win in FIBA-Asia if they stay contended with jacking up 3s but much of the offensive sets of Coach Rajko Toroman still result to jump shots. They do get into trouble when their offensive sets fail to yield a quality shot for them. They resort to one-on-one basketball when it does happen and we all know that none of the current players of SG are great one-on-one players. A Stanley Pringle and/or Paul Lee could definitely help. Running should help solve this kind of a problem and SG ran well in this game. Pushing the tempo (intelligently) must be a priority for a very small team. They got a lot of offensive rebounds but they muffed a couple of easy put backs. They can’t expect the same number of rebounds when they’re going up against the best of Asia though.

Defense is still the problem for this team. Marlou looked like the old Marlou and not an old Marlou with these guys defending him. Most of the big men of SG are just standing around. I don’t know if this is by design but it’s not working.

Mac Baracael looked tentative at times but I still like him because he’s the most energetic guy in a SG jersey. Chris Tiu is proving us all wrong with his impressive play. I’d like him to be part of the final SG lineup just as long he’s not the starting 2 guard. SG might have lost this game but at least their main guy, Mark Barroca, is back. He's averaging 17.8 ppg over his last 4 games after scoring only 4 points in his 1st game. I guess he has moved on after the controversies during his stint with FEU. He will be such an important piece in the puzzle if SG does intend to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.