Lineup experiment backfired – Chot

CHOT Reyes admitted the lineup experiment for Gilas Pilipinas was one of the main reasons for the team's faulty start en route to a 90-80 setback against a Lithuania selection team on Tuesday night in Kaunas, Lithuania.

With Ange Kouame joining the Philippine team a day before the Lithuania game, Reyes decided to move the naturalized big man in center position while sliding veteran Japeth Aguilar at the 4-spot.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE (From left) Japeth Aguilar, June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez listen to coach Chot Reyes (not in photo) during a practice session in Europe where Gilas Pilipinas engages in a series of tune-up matches against European teams. PHOTO FROM SBP FACEBOOK PAGE

Kouame, who attended his college graduation at Ateneo late last week before flying to Lithuania, played six minutes in his first tune-up game for Gilas. He played back-up for six-time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo, who started at center.

“We tried a different starting lineup, a different combination. We tried to start Justin Brownlee at the 3-spot, and start Japeth at the 4-spot because he has been playing at 5 the past few games,” Reyes told One Sports' Carlo Pamintuan.

“With Ange here, we wanted Japeth to play a little bit more at 4 and obviously it didn't work because we got off to a 17-1 start [with Lithuania ahead].”

The nine-time PBA champion coach, however, defended Gilas' latest loss in its tune-up matches in Europe.

“The good thing is that's part of why we're here, to figure out the different combinations and different lineups, to know that nothing is better, no knowledge is more powerful than experience,” he said.

The tall Lithuanian squad punished the national squad with 12 three-pointers.

Six-foot-eight Lithuanian forward Tomas Zdanavicius was on target, finishing with 25 points, while knocking down seven triples.

Reyes said he was intrigued to see how six-time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo would react to defending players who can shoot from the outside.

“This was all part of the process. We wanted to play a team that has five shooters because we wanted to see how we could get June Mar defending ball screens, pick and pops against three-point shooters,” explained the 59-year-old Reyes.

“We saw what happened. June Mar had 10 points in the first half, but his man had 20 points. That's something we need to work on,” he said.

As in previous interviews, Reyes said Gilas will have to keep getting better on playing defense, noting that they are still trying to find the delicate balance of shooting and defending well.

“I thought our offense wasn't our problem in this ballgame, but the defense,” said Reyes, who steered the Philippines back to the Southeast Asian Games men's basketball gold after beating host Cambodia in the finals last May.

“We're going to have games like this. We're scoring really well but we couldn't stop the other team, so we have to find a balance at scoring well and defending really well,” he added.

Gilas is currently 2-3 in its scheduled six-game exhibition matches in Europe.