Jakarta—The Philippine Team wants to move on from that heartbreaking two-point loss to China on Tuesday night in the 2018 Asian Games here, with coach Yeng Guiao now focusing on an expected make-or-break showdown with South Korea on Monday.
Expect the nationals to play much wiser after their disappointing 82-80 loss to China—and with more ferocity—in their knockout match, possibly with the Koreans next week.
As of this writing, no quarterfinal pairings have been made available yet as the competitions are still finishing the basketball preliminaries as of yesterday.
Guiao and his coaching staff are bracing for a different battle.
“Korea has a different system. Hindi sila nagri-rely sa malalaki nila,” Guiao said. “They rely on ball movement. We have to prepare for their quickness.”
Not only that. The Filipinos must also prepare for the intangibles that former PBA import Ricardo Ratliffe can provide for the Koreans as their naturalized player.
But Guiao is unfazed.
“Our familiarity with Ratliffe will save us some time on the scouting report, but Korea is more than Ratliffe. Korea is more of a team game. They move the ball around. If you lose your focus, if you lose your patience, that’s the time you break down on defense. I guess those are the things that we have to plan against Korea,” Guiao said.
Guiao believes the team’s gutsy performance against China should be an indication of their chances in the medal round even though the team has had its shares of heartbreaking experiences against the Koreans.
“If we play with the same effort just like what we’ve shown against China, tingin ko kaya natin ang Korea,” Guiao added.
The Nationals should be reminded that the Koreans had inflicted so many heartaches to the country—notably in the Asian Games.
In the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, the Philippines was deprived of a chance to face China for the gold medal when a controversial charging foul was called against Allan Caidic.
That gave the Koreans the win.
Fast forward to 2002 in Busan. Lee Sang Min buried his only three-point shot in the closing seconds of the game that propelled Korea to an intense win over the Jong Uichico-coached national squad.
After breaking the Korean curse in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila, the two teams that qualified from the Asian region met again in the World Cup a year later and the Koreans, led by TJ Moon, pulled off a come-from-behind victory over the Filipinos.
History speaks and Guiao and his troops are here to make one.