Gilas adds Meralco in tuneup game

There's no rest for the weary Gilas players as the national team hit the ground running the moment the Filipinos arrived on Saturday, September 16 at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.

PHOTO BY RIO DELUVIO

Save for last Friday's break, the national players have been training together since last Monday, September 11 as they learn the system under Gilas interim coach Tim Cone.

“We're gonna be foundational, we're gonna be fundamental and get to whatever level we can get to by doing it the right way,” Cone told reporters before entering the training camp in Laguna.

The American mentor added that aside from the tuneup match scheduled against the Korean club LG Sakers next Friday, September 22 at the Philsports Arena, Gilas will also engage the Meralco Bolts on Tuesday, September 19 in a scrimmage game at Inspire Academy.

Given the limited preparation time, Cone believes these two tuneup matches will be good enough before flying to Hangzhou, China next Saturday, September 23 in time for the 19th Asian Games.

Basketball competitions open on September 26 with Gilas taking on the Wayne Chism-led Bahrain side starting at 1:30 p.m.

Chism is familiar to PBA fans, having won the 2015 Commissioner's Cup Best Import while playing for Rain or Shine.

“We really don't have pretty much time to play a lot of friendly games. To me the practices are more important than the friendlies because we learn more in practices,” explained Cone.

Gilas is bracketed in the group stage with Bahrain, Jordan and long-time Southeast Asian rival Thailand.