GILAS Pilipinas suffered another setback in its Asian Games campaign after Robert Bolick and Adrian Nocum both sustained injuries during Friday’s 89-85 loss to Bahrain.
Head coach Tim Cone said Bolick hurt his knee during warmups after landing awkwardly. The veteran guard still attempted to play through the injury but struggled on the court.
“Robert injured his knee during warmups when he landed badly which set us back. He tried to play through it, but it was a struggle,” Cone said in a Viber message to Fastbreak.
Gilas’ injury woes worsened when Nocum also went down during the game, leaving the Philippines further depleted against Bahrain’s bigger lineup.
“We then lost Adrian as well. Thank goodness was for Calvin’s play,” Cone said, referring to Calvin Oftana’s 31-point performance in his Asian Games debut.
Oftana’s offensive explosion kept Gilas within striking distance, but Cone said the team continued to have problems defending Bahrain’s size.
“We had trouble defending their size. We had to collapse down on their big men and couldn’t cover their shooters,” he said.
Despite the difficulties, Cone credited his players for continuing to compete and giving themselves opportunities to turn the game around.
“Still our guys battled. We had our chances but a couple of bad stretches at the end of the half and the third quarter really changed the game in their favor,” he said.
The loss dropped Gilas to 0-1 in Group C and put added importance on its next game.
Cone said the team cannot afford to dwell on the defeat as it prepares for Kazakhstan.
“No time to feel bad about it, however. We need to move on quickly to Kazakhstan,” he said. (Adrian Co)
