Topic: Gilas is big threat – Matic

[wayneronaldo]

Iran-Mahran head coach Veselin Matic is convinced the Philippines will be one of the teams to watch when the prestigious FIBA-Asia Championship unfurls later this year in Wuhan, China.

Matic made the assessment after his boys were pushed to the limit before escaping the hard-fighting Smart-Gilas Pilipinas, 80-77, Saturday night in their semifinal encounter in the 22nd FIBA-Asia Champions Cup where Iran is the defending champion.

“The Philippines is very respectable,” said Matic, who arrived last Friday. “They got a couple players from the professional. They’ll be competitive.”

The 50-year-old Matic said he was impressed at how the Filipinos were able to withstand his two-import laden squad, which ruled the last two FIBA-Asia Championship titles.

They first won it in 2007 (Tokushima, Japan) under Toroman, the current Smart-Gilas coach, that propelled the Iranians to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and in 2009 (Tianjin, China) under Matic that gave them a slot in the 2010 World Championships in Turkey.

Smart-Gilas won all its four games in the preliminaries, including a 76-74 victory over Jordan-ASU, and then held on to beat Syria-Al Jalaa in the quarterfinals, 85-80, to earn a semis slot for the first time in 15 years.

But the loss relegated the Nationals against Qatar-Al Rayyan in a bronze medal game. Battle for 3rd: Gilas bow to Qataris to end up 4th in FIBA Champions Cup (click here)

Iran and Lebanon, which defeated Qatar in the other semis match (71-52), will dispute the gold medal in the championship round late Sunday. Finals: Al Riyadi Lebanon wins FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2011 crown (click here)

Matic said the coming FIBA-Asia Championship, which serves as the qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics, is tougher than the ongoing tournament.

“Everybody sees us as the one that will play China in the Finals. But this year it will be very tough,” Matic said. “Japan is coming back. Korea made a big score in the Asian Games. Lebanon has a great team. Qatar is there and the Philippines will be competitive.”

“That is the main reason why I am here. I came here, I want to see the opponents,” Matic added. “We know we are a good team. Our ambition is we want to make the top four (semis of FIBA-Asia).”

Matic said that Iran’s 7-foot-2 center Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies is still questionable for the West Asian Basketball Association (WABA) Championship on June 16 in Northern Iraq, as well as for the FIBA-Asian Championship.

Toroman meanwhile sees a silver lining in the loss to then Iran-Mahran Saturday night that derailed the Nationals’ bid for finals berth and snapped their five-game winning streak.

[pspyrock]

Ang maganda sa Gilas ay medyo exposed sila sa foreign tournaments.
At kahit ilang beses sila matalo, siguro naman natututo sila sa pagkatalo nila to make them a better team.

[Bosleyawa]

Sana may ganitong development din ung football, ung long term.. Hindi ako fan ng football at hindi nga ako nanood ng laro, more of basketball fan talaga, pero I think mas may potential pa tau dun kesa ngaun sa basketball na mejo disadvantage na tau sa mga katulad ng Japan, China and other Middle Eastern countries. Makasali lng ung Pinas sa World Cup, big deal na un, nakaya nga ng North Korea hehe..