The Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team has outperformed all of expectations after a sweep of their matches in Group A of the FIBA Asia Qualifiers last month in Clark, Pampanga and a decent showing in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade.
National team head coach Tab Baldwin said this while undergoing quarantine following the national squad’s return to Manila.
“I would characterize the team as having outperformed expectations. And we certainly made progress. And a lot of our progress is probably mental, rather than actual,” said Baldwin.
The three-game win that Gilas posted in its remaining games in the FIBA Asia qualifiers made members of the team more determined and tougher.
And their two setbacks in Belgrade even added some toughness in their mentality.
“From a technical and analytical standpoint, we did not really perform that well. But I now really trust the determination and toughness of our players,” added Baldwin.
The Philippines is now getting ready for the FIBA Asia Cup, which is set from August 17 to 29 in Indonesia.
They will be joined by rival Korea, one of the 13 teams which have qualified.
Also making it are Lebanon, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Syria, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.