Gunners Matthew Wright and Marcio Lassiter are making up for lost time after injuries forced them out of Gilas Pilipinas' preceding international sortie, the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.
Back in the national fold for Tim Cone's crew in the Southeast Asian Games, Wright and Lassiter showcased what we missed in the worlds as they turned in a hot shooting night side by side, knocking 13 triples combined as Gilas Pilipinas' walloped Mynmar, 136-67, for a sweep of group play.
Wright torched the Burmese with 29 points on an 8-of-16 marksmanship from beyond the arc while Lassiter scored all of his 15 via three-pointers, going five-of-13.
The gunslinging duo accounted for all but four of the 17 treys of Gilas, their second-quarter sniping fuelling the Nationals' torrid 45-point outburst that put the game beyond Myanmar's reach.
"Marcio and Matt got going, hitting a number of threes and that kind of picked up on our defensive intensity and then we went from there," said Cone.
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Facing a lightweight opponent the Philippines once handed a 104-point beating, Cone and his charges sought a balance between playing hard and "respecting the game and not running up the score to embarrass the opposing team."
"We tried not to fastbreak too much, tried to slow the game down so we won't get that score running higher and higher. That wasn't our purpose. Our purpose was go out, use this game to get ready for the next one and show respect to our opponent," said the Gilas tactician.
"It was a little bit of a challenge (finding the balance). But that's what coach Tim wahted us to accomplish. Not just go out there and just freelance and play streetball. We easily could have done that but it's not gonna do us any justice. We're looking forward to the next game so we're using this as kinda like baromoter where we're at and also keep us sharp defensively," said Wright, who had 17 in their second-quarter rampage.
Up next for the unbeaten Group A topnotcher Philippines is Group B No. 2 Indonesia, a side coached by former Gilas coach Rajko Toroman, in the semis.
Lassiter was part of Toroman's original Gilas cast and looks forward to crossing paths with his old mentor.
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"I learned a lot from him, he helped me develop as a player. It's gonna be great playing against him, At the same tine we know what's at stake. Definitely, I'll play as hard as I can to get to the final round," said Lassiter. (OL) / Photo: Freddie Dionisio (spin.ph)
