If the 6'9 Japhet Aguilar can only play like a versatile NBA player consistently, the Smart Gilas Pilipinas will surely go far in their quest to bring the Philippines into the 2012 London Olympics. Just imagine a 6'9 player dunking around and shooting from all points on the court, that is a typical player domination. He did do that against Saudi Arabia. He led Gilas to a 101 to 69 blowout win to usher in the 2011 FIBA Asia Champions Cup which opened in Philsports Arena yesterday. This game is a statement game wherein Gilas' desire to win was shown.
Aguilar had 20 points in this game. He was not in his usual self while he was burning the hoops, enroute to a 10 straight field goals made without any miss. The last time I saw such performance was when New Orleans' Willie Green broke a Hornet shooting record against the Lakers in the NBA Playoffs 2011. Perhaps the defense of Saudi wasn't that good. Peace out Japhet. I just want to make you smile. Going on, this is Gilas' first win in the tournament and it places them on top of the standings. This win helps give Gilas a better chance to be in the quarterfinals because this league will only run for just one week. Very short right? We just can't get enough of Gilas.
Digging through the stats of this game, Gilas had a great field goal shooting. Making 43 out of 70 shots from the field and netting 5 out of 12 shots from beyond the arc. In the rebounding and intimidating aspect, Douthit was big. He can't be stopped by Saudi.
Gilas' coach Rajko Toroman didn't make a big statement win after this. He's well aware that there are still better teams in this tournament that they will face in the days to come, namely Iran and others. He said:
"It was a good game for us. We played almost the same as in our tune-up game against them prior to the tournament. We knew that we are the better team."
Gilas will face Malaysia on May 29, 2011. Today, at exactly 6 p.m. at Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Here's the complete stats of the this game.
Pilipinas-Smart Gilas 101 — Aguilar 20, Douthit 18, Lassiter 15, Casio 11, Baracael 9, Barroca 8, Tiu 7, Ababou 6, Lutz 5, Hontiveros 2, Ballesteros 0, Taulava 0.
Al Ittihad-Saudi Arabia 69 — Dragajlovic 18, Almaghrabi 9, Keely 8, Alhosawi 7, Alharbi 7, Alshamrani 6, Kabe 5, Ibrahim 4,Alharabi 3, Alfallatah 2, Aljuhani 0.
Look at these pictures below which I got from TeamPilipinas.info.
Marcus Douthit is unstoppable.
Asi Taulava didn't score in this game but I can imagine him saying this: "I'm at your back small brothers. Don't worry just do your thing."
Japhet being like Mike. Just be more consistent Japhet and for sure, you'll be on your way to the NBA.
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