San Miguel Beermen’s June Mar Fajardo during the PBA Philippine Cup Finals Game 3 against TNT Tropang 5G. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Gilas Pilipinas’ send-off match against the Macau Black Bears that ended on a winning note on Monday will also serve as a final gauge for coach Tim Cone before selecting his 12-man roster for next week’s Fiba Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“[W]e will reassess the lineup going to Jeddah and name the final 12,” Cone said before the exhibition contest held at Smart Araneta Coliseum that saw Gilas come back from a huge deficit to take a 103-98 victory.
Justin Brownlee’s 32 points, plus a huge contribution from AJ Edu plus the intangibles delivered by CJ Perez, allowed the home side to pick up a win after an uninspiring first half where the Filipinos trailed by as many as 21.
Cone and the national squad have been busy preparing for the continental tournament since July 7, but those practices have been limited to 11 players with June Mar Fajardo, Calvin Oftana and Perez playing in the recent PBA Philippine Cup Finals, while Rhenz Abando and Zavier Lucero had yet to report for training.
The latter two standouts were among the additions to the pool, albeit for only the Asia Cup, but Abando was coming off a stint with Strong Group Athletics in its successful defense of the William Jones Cup in Taiwan, while Lucero is reportedly still in the United States.
Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, Troy Rosario, RJ Abarrientos, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos, Carl Tamayo, Edu and Kevin Quiambao have been the ones training at Upper Deck Sports Center and later in Pampanga where a minicamp was held. The meeting with the Quentin Millora-Brown-reinforced Black Bears allowed Cone to see if he needs final adjustments to his roster.
Gilas will leave for Jeddah on Wednesday. Apart from the need to acclimatize and make last-minute plans, the team is set to take on Jordan in another exhibition on Aug. 2. The Philippines takes on Chinese-Taipei three days later to kick off the Asia Cup campaign that may see Gilas in a challenging situation with Kai Sotto still out due to his ACL injury.
Fajardo and Oftana sat out the exhibition at the Big Dome as Cone opted to rest them due to injuries sustained in the recent Philippine Cup playoffs.
Fajardo has dealt with a calf problem since the semifinals, while Oftana played through an ankle sprain until the Finals.
Cone said after beating the Black Bears that Oftana is a “50-50” for the Asia Cup, while Fajardo is expected to play in the Jordan tuneup.
“Those are certainly a concern, all those nicks,” Cone said a few weeks ago. “We got to figure out a way to play this and get things done. [But] I think the biggest issue is we got a lot of players that finished a really, really long season and they’re really worn out.
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“We got guys that are really worn out and tired, and then you got guys like AJ, Dwight and Justin that need to get in shape. So we got to push those guys and rest the other guys, and then later on, add June Mar, CJ and Calvin to the team without really any practice. INQ
