Balls-Eye: Gilas’ Small Squad on Extreme Pressure to Suffice Romeo’s Absence

Team Gilas’ small squad needs to step up to fill the gap left by Terrence Romeo being injured and unable to play for the country.

Though National Coach Chot Reyes said that they are not closing the doors for Terrence, the National team cannot afford to lose games without Terrence for his break is still indefinite in order to recuperate from his injury.

In that case, the ambitious Gilas Pilipinas needs an extra push to be provided by the small guys to make their world cup dream come true. This means pressure, a high level of pressure bestowed upon the shoulders of the small guys.

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Ravena and Pogoy stepping up is a MUST do to secure victories especially when facing powerhouse teams. However, in their first game against the Japanese, we’ve seen both of them struggle. Pogoy merely made an outside shot whilst Ravena had a hard time in making plays when he switched against Castro as the primary point guard. Thanks to Matthew Right, the vulnerability of the small men was covered up.

Gilas must not solely rely on Andre Blatche. Blatche may be offensively unstoppable, or so it seemed. Andre shoots poorly from the free-throw line so it will be as easy as giving up a foul without leaving a door open for a three-point play to stop Gilas’ giant black beast.

Now if ever this happens that the Gilas inside and big men were outsized and overpowered, it shall be their outside gunners to be relentless in scoring and only then the defensive are will start to loosen, making it a bit easier for the Gilas’ bigs to help out the team better.

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Romeo’s absence is not an excuse for the national team to throw in the towel too early. In fact, they have won their first game against Japan. Though failing to dominate, they managed to silence the loud throng of the crowd inside the arena cheering for their opponent.

It is a good start. It is a good ‘start’. And they must keep getting ‘better’ to achieve what’s best for the team with or without one of their best point guard Terrence Romeo.

RR Pogoy and Jayson Castro: Perfect Gift to Talk and Text Before Leaving for FIBA Asia Cup

RR Pogoy’s hot hands and Jayson Castro’s excitement before the FIBA Asia Cup

Both RR Pogoy and Jayson Castro were supposed to play light minutes for Talk and Text but coach Nash Racela had no choice but to stretch their play time as both FIBA Asia Cup bound players were hot like pancakes.

Winless Alaska was playing really well and was really challenging Talk and Text throughout the game. It was a closely contested ball game that was won during the later part and with the heroics and clutch plays of both Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy.

After the game, Coach Nash Racela was very apologetic to Coach Chot as he wasn’t intending to play the two guards with heavy minutes but they wanted to win badly tonight especially after the loss with SMB.

25-year-old RR Pogoy scored 25 points on an 8 of 11 shooting including that dagger 3 late in the game while his partner Jayson Castro added 23 points on a 8 of 15 shooting. Castro also got 10 assists and 9 rebounds.

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After the game, the two players were also interviewed. RR Pogoy mentioned that the performance tonight has given him more confidence and was hoping that he can carry it to the FIBA Asia Cup. Jayson Castro, on the other hand, talked about trying to win the games before leaving and shared his excitement playing along with players from other teams and competing for the country.

Gilas Pilipinas’ players are scheduled to depart early morning tomorrow as they get set for the tournament which will take place on August 15.