By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
It was not a good start for the Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team.
Entering the 2021 FIBA 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament with high hopes, CJ Perez, Moala Tautuaa, Joshua Munzon, Santi Santillan, and Alvin Pasaol found themselves losing their first two games.
The boys in white and blue dropped their first game against Qatar, 12-21, and followed it up with another loss against the heavyweight Slovenian team, 11-21.
Gilas had a rough shooting day as they failed to score at least 15 points in two of their elimination games.
The quick and crisp passing of both Qatar and Slovenia made it hard for the Philippines to sustain their level of defense from start to finish.
New to the FIBA 3×3 international scene, big man Tautuaa had trouble keeping up with the uncanny pick-and-rolls both teams gave their defense.
On the contrary, the Philippines’ two main gunners in Perez and Munzon kept on producing points but shot poorly from the field.
Despite the back-to-back losses, Gilas Pilipinas still has a chance to advance to the next round if they manage to take down France and Republic provided that Qatar and France lose their remaining games.
