The Smart Gilas-Pilipinas will be going for the title in the 9th Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship as they tangle with the hosts Indonesia in the finals at the Brittama Arena in Jakarta.
The mission for the Gilas – a slot in the FIBA-Asia Championship in Wuhan, China – has already been accomplished but the Nationals are hoping to spice things up against a team they beat by 40 points several days ago.
The Nationals swept all their three elimination round games, one at the expense of the Malaysians, 97-71, Thursday and the other two over the Indonesians, 94-54, Friday and the Singaporeans, 106-51, Saturday that sealed them a place in the Wuhan joust slated Sept. 15 to 25 and the finals against the host country.
The Indonesians, buoyed by the wild and loud-cheering hometown crowd, overwhelmed the Malaysians, 77-47, late Saturday to forge a rematch against the same team that humiliated them in the preliminaries.
“We beat them by 40 points in our first game and I expect them to make major adjustments so it will be closer this time,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman, who made it to the finals with an impressive winning margin of 40.25 points a game.
Smart Gilas flew here with only a 10-player roster before sending Fil-Am Marcio Lassiter home several days back to have his acute back injury treated.
The Nationals are already missing the services of Meralco’s Asi Taulava, Air21’s Dondon Hontiveros and Talk N’ Text’s Kelly Williams and Jimmy Alapag, who are playing for their mothers teams in the ongoing PBA Governors’ Cup, and Ateneo’s Greg Slaughter and Far Eastern University’s Aldrech Ramos, who are playing in the UAAP.