Philippines/Australia - Australian coach impressed by RP team’s performance
Australian playing-coach Bruce Bolden was impressed with the way the Filipinos played against his select team in a pair of Goodwill Games that ended the other day. “They have this sort of identity. They’re always in the attack mode, which is good for international competitions,” Bolden, a former National Basketball League (NBL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), said after Game 2 of their series.
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Australian playing-coach Bruce Bolden was impressed with the way the Filipinos played against his select team in a pair of Goodwill Games that ended the other day.
“They have this sort of identity. They’re always in the attack mode, which is good for international competitions,” Bolden, a former National Basketball League (NBL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), said after Game 2 of their series.
“They’re on the right track (preparing for competition)). They knew they don’t have much size, but they make up for that with their speed and outside shooting,” Bolden added.
The PowerAde-Team Pilipinas swept the Hoopdreamz in the Motolite Philippines-Australia Goodwill Series. They cruised to an 87-63 win in the first game but encountered rough sailing in the second game when two PBA imports — Tiras Wade of Talk ‘N Text and Burger King’s Shawn Daniels — beefed up the team. They actually needed an extra five minutes before puling off a 93-89 team.
The national team is preparing with several international events, starting with the SEABA Men’s Championship in Medan, Indonesia this June, the qualifying event for the FIBA-Asia Championship in China in August.
A top three finish in FIBA-Asia will, will earn for the Philippines a seat in the World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey next year.
According to Bolden, the Filipinos are doing a great job maximizing their strength, saying: “Filipinos are quick thinkers. They don’t waste possessions, they don’t dribble the ball too much and they just moved the ball as fast as they could, which would be a crucial factor in the Asian competitions.”
However, Bolden has an unsolicited advice to Guiao’s team. “They’re quick and they’re good in transition, but they should get used to a lot of banging in the Asian competition, particularly from the Middle East countries,” he said.
Guiao admitted that they learned a lot playing a physical game, being mentally tough when things got a little rough against the rugged Australian selection. “This is a great work out for us. It showed the measure of character of the players,” Guiao said.
“They (Australians) made a good job on complementing with the two players. They played a lot of minutes, they maximized the two reinforcements. To us, that’s a problem that we would like to be able to experience,” he said.
Kerby Raymundo had his moments in the second game when he led a fourth quarter comeback by scoring 15 of 24 points, while team captain Asi Taulava, Mick Pennisi, Sonny Thoss, Ranidel de Ocampo and Kelly Williams displayed toughness against the Australians.