Marcus Douthit is such an important piece of
the Smart-Gilas roster. He gives the
country the inside presence they severely lack. For some insane reason, Middle Eastern countries have tapped on
that skeletal upsize once hoarded by the Far East countries and his addition to
the squad will equalized that gene spurt (although we have beanpoles Junmar Fajardo and Smart-Gilas player Greg Slaughter in our disposal).
Douthit
is highly dependable especially on the shaded area. He also has a good
perimeter shot. This is important because this means he can sink free throws.
This
is good considering that he is seven-feet tall and an American.
Oh. I
forgot.
A very,
VERY big Filipino!
But
let’s agree on this – his inside dominance is one factor but he is a mere
supplement to our cause. He is there so that the Pinoys in the squad could do
their thing.
Against
Syria however, it was bad.
I
think they need to address this issue now because the more this is resolved,
the better our chances to clinch a first place in this tourney. Sure, it’s a
longshot but the edge we have against China,
Iran, and Korea is that our starters are as good as our bench. Throughout
the 2011 FIBA-Asia Championship, we
saw a lot of heroes. Even seldom used players like Japeth Aguilar, Mark Barroca, and Mac Baracael had their share of
fun.
But
everyone must contribute!
And I
mean everyone.
Against
Syria, Douthit has scored the first twelve points of the squad and when he
needed to get subbed after committing his second foul, none of the Nationals
stepped up.
Looking
at the six games Smart-Gilas played, it seems as if some of the players have
lost their swagger to score. When I mean some, I mean the original Smart-Gilas
core minus Marcio Lassiter. Chris Lutz, despite his offensive inabilities,
is on the court because he can masterfully shadow an opposing team’s ace to the
point of annoyance.
However,
Chris Tiu has passed on a lot of open
outside opportunities. Baracael is in a proverbial doghouse because of his
lousy field goal percentage. JV Casio
has been passing up a lot of scoring passes that he can make and not passing up
on bad shots. Aguilar is not getting the minutes because probably Rajko doesn’t
trust him in important situations.
I know
that compared to the PBA players they are kids... but they are the original
pack.
This
is the team coach Rajko Toroman
wanted ever since we made a conscious effort to revive our basketball glory.
There is a reason why they lasted this long in the team. There is a reason why
PBA teams went to dire straits just to sign them. There is a reason why they
are called to fight in the unenviable task to retrieve the Philippines’ spot in
the Olympics.
They
need to check on their shot selections and at the same time assert their selves
that this is not a team solely centered on Marcus Douthit.
What
we saw at the second half of the match against Syria was a different story.
Casio drained the baskets at the start of the second half to send Team
Pilipinas in fighting distance. The crappy 10-second free throw violation call
was enough for Douthit and Jimmy Alapag
to pillage the Syrians. Then Ranidel de
Ocampo joined in on the fun highlighted by a vicious stuff after a missed
long bomb. And finally, Tiu buried a couple of baskets to make the lead bulletproof.
This
is what needs to happen. Even if Douthit is the focal point, distracting the
competition with able hands will stretch the defense.
Philippines 75... Syria 52.
Douthit
is not a hard player to scout. He IS Smart-Gilas’ main man. But maybe if a
couple of players raise their game to a different notch, good things could
happen to the squad. It was revealed in the papers that Toroman deliberately
chose not to use Alapag and Kelly
Williams in the opening minutes so he can see a slew of various options not
limited to the “old” people.
Here
are the stats up to the Syria point:
POINTS:
1 –
Marcus Douthit – 18.7ppg
2 –
Marcio Lassiter – 11.3ppg
3 –
Chris Tiu – 8.0ppg
4.5 – Jimmy
Alapag – 7.5ppg
4.5 –
JV Casio – 7.5ppg
REBOUNDS:
1 –
Marcus Douthit – 10.5rpg
2 –
Asi Taulava – 6.5rpg
3.5 –
Kelly Williams – 4.0rpg
3.5 –
Ranidel De Ocampo – 4.0rpg
5 – Chris
Tiu – 3.7rpg
ASSISTS:
1 –
Jimmy Alapag – 3.5apg
2.5 – Chris
Tiu – 2.8apg
2.5 –
JV Casio – 2.8apg
4 – Mark
Barroca – 2.5apg
If I
was an opposing coach, I’d say that the Smart-Gilas squad starts off slow so
they can build on a grand ending. For me this is nice and all but they need to
at least get a 30 in the first half and do their normal “monster mode” at the
second.
More
wins ahead!
Game
over!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment