Foshan, China—Connecting with a total of 15 of 31 three-point attempts, Italy gave Gilas Pilipinas a rude welcome to the international stage and cruised to an easy 108-62 victory in the 2019 FIBA World Cup late Saturday night at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Arena.
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Not even the presence of President Rodrigo Duterte, who watched at the VIP section, could boost the overall play of the Filipinos in the humiliating 48-point loss—an outcome that the Philippine President predicted weeks ago.
Bannered by NBA players Danilo Gallinari and Marco Belinelli, the taller Italians proved their case early and stormed to a ridiculous 37-8 first-quarter lead, which they ballooned further to 62-24 at the half.
The Italians just couldn’t be stopped.
The Filipinos were hoping to use their quickness to offset the Italians’ heft, but even their running game came to a halt with sloppy plays and cold touch from the outside in the face of their foes’ dominant inside plays coupled with torrid shooting.
Italy started strong and caught Gilas Pilipinas flatfooted with its impeccable outside shooting in the first period, setting the pace with six triples.
Luigi Datome had 17 points, including three big treys, and Amadeo dela Valle also made 17 for the Italians.
A floater followed by a trey from Datome in the last 8:01 of the opening quarter started a 26-2 blast that broke a 2-all deadlock.
When it was over, two triples from Marco Gallineri, followed by another pair from Daniel Hackett, and a second one from Datome did great damage to the Team Pilipinas’ defense before the quarter ended.
The Italians, who also crushed the Philippine team, 106-70, in a tune-up game in June 2016 ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, never let up the third to lead by as much as 85-39.
Only Gilas newcomer CJ Perez came to play with 15 points and 3 assists, while Andray Blatche had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Filipinos have a chance to bounce back Sunday at 7:30 p.m., but it will be against pre-tournament favorite Serbia, which is touted to be the team that can dethrone the US team reinforced by NBA stars.
The Serbians showed that they are the team to watch out for as they thrashed Angola 105-59 in the opening match of the tournament.
In another early match, Russia edged Nigeria—touted as a possible surprise-package—in a thriller in Group B.
Russia led at half-time, only for Nigeria to surge level at the end of the third quarter.
The Africans were in the ascendancy and led early in the fourth, but the Russians stormed back and they were tied 75-75 with less than a minute left.
But it was the Russians who held their nerve, grabbing victory 82-77 after a tense final few seconds.
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