Smart Gilas Pilipinas suffered its first loss on the ongoing 26th FIBA Asia Mens Basketball Championship at Wuhan China at the expense of the home team China. The Philippine team was outscored by China from start to finish which ended up with a final score of 75-60 in favor of mighty China.
The Philippine Team were still lacking in numbers playing with only 10 players in rotation after Lutz and L(–foul word(s) removed–)iter were not able to play because of ineligibility and protest coming from opposing team. Smart Gilas head coach had to change his rotation because of that particular situation.
Top scoring for the Philippine Team on their quest for a possible upset against powerhouse China was spearheaded by naturalized center Marcus Douthit who scored in double double performance although failed to contained the inside present of Chinese giants. Douthit had a total of 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Supporting Douthit on offense was Filipino hotshot Chris Tiu, aside from the two Smart Gilas players there were no other players on Toroman side to score in double figures. Kelly Williams had 6 points and JV Casio and Jimmy Alapag had only added 5 points apiece.
Leading the pack on the Chinese side was NBA veteran Yi Jianlian with 20 points and 17 rebounds. Other players scoring for the mighty Chinese were Wang Zhizhi with 16 points, Zun Yue added 15 points and Zhu Fangyou with 13 points.
After the loss against China, the Philippine team should win their next (–foul word(s) removed–)ignment against lowly Bahrain to secure a ticket to the 2nd round of elimination and landed at the number 2 spot of the Group D. Top three teams from the group D will advance to the next round against the top 3 teams of Group C with a carry over team standing.
Here is the complete video replay of the game between Smart Gilas and China.
2011 FIBA Asia Mens Basketball Championship: Smart Gilas vs. China
PART 1:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMqTqB0o5Bs[/youtube]
PART 2:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3VCsBGaNdk[/youtube]
PART 3:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AiSJuEqaDM[/youtube]
PART 4:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_gorGVyON8[/youtube]