Gilas Pilipinas made a horror start to its Asian Games campaign as reigning champion, losing to Bahrain, 89-85, at the Aichi International Arena on Friday.
The loss immediately puts Gilas in a difficult position in Group C, with the Philippines now needing to defeat Kazakhstan and China to secure a top-two finish or potentially qualify as one of the two best third-place teams across the three groups to advance to the quarterfinals.
From Bahrain's dominance inside to Gilas' struggles to generate offense beyond Calvin Oftana, here's what stood out from the Philippines' opening performance.
Sampson and Thomas' domination enabled Bahrain's three-point shooting
Gilas had the overall size advantage, but Bahrain's frontcourt duo of former NBA player JaKarr Sampson and Elijah Thomas proved difficult to contain. The two naturalized big men consistently punished the Philippines inside, combining for 44 points on an efficient 68% shooting from the field. Thomas was particularly dominant, going a perfect 8-for-8, as Bahrain shot 62% from inside the arc.
Bahrain's ability to establish themselves in the paint forced Gilas to constantly adjust coverages. Head coach Tim Cone tried going higher on ball screens and eventually turned to zone in the second half, but both schemes carried the same consequence: Bahrain forced two defenders towards the ball and created the kind of rotations it wanted.
That opened the floor for Bahrain's shooters.
With Gilas collapsing toward Sampson and Thomas, Bahrain found cleaner looks from beyond the arc, knocking down 12 3-pointers at a 43% clip. The paint touches from its big men effectively became the starting point for the team's perimeter attack, as Gilas had to choose between giving up space inside or rotating out to shooters. Sampson also created on short rolls, or simply issued the extra pass when he got crowded, evidenced by his eight assists in the game.
Mustafa Rashed was one of the biggest beneficiaries for Bahrain, taking advantage of the defensive attention drawn by their interior threats to score 20 points on a 53.0% true shooting percentage, which put Gilas in a bind on the defensive end.
Offense beyond Oftana is a concern
Simply put, the Philippines' offense pretty much hinged on what Calvin Oftana could provide. As a late addition to this team to replace the injured Justin Brownlee, the TNT wing showed just how important he could be to Gilas in the Asian Games.
In his return to national team duties, Oftana put together a strong 31-point performance on a 73.1% true shooting percentage, including a scintillating 6-for-9 shooting from three-point range. More importantly, those makes came in a variety of ways: Catch-and-shoot opportunities, off movement, by attacking long closeouts and even in isolation, which showcased the different ways he can create his own offense throughout the game.
But if there was one concern with Gilas' offense, it was just how heavily it relied on Oftana, particularly once the game settled into the half court. Beyond him, the Philippines had difficulty consistently creating advantages and generating efficient looks, leaving too much of the offensive burden on one player.
Adrian Nocum was the one exception, as he consistently found ways to get to the rim, but the guard still struggled to convert those opportunities efficiently in his first game on the international stage, finishing with 14 points on a 39.7% true shooting percentage.
That makes Gilas' 51-35 rebounding advantage all the more important. The Philippines has the ability to win the possession battle, and those extra rebounds should give it opportunities to push the pace and ignite transition before opponents can get their half-court defense set. The better Gilas can turn its work on the glass into early offense, the less it has to depend on Oftana to manufacture points in the half court.
Bolick and Barefield should step up
Nocum's late ankle injury makes him a potentially hampered player for Gilas Pilipinas, but, the team's other guards must bounce back from their dismal debuts in the Asian Games -- whether he plays or not.
Robert Bolick was expected to be one of the Philippines' main sources of offense, but pretty he was pretty much clamped and reduced to a non-factor by Bahrain. He finished without a point while posting the team's worst plus-minus at -16 in 13 minutes of action. Sedrick Barefield had a similarly quiet outing, also failing to score and missing all five of his attempts as the two guards combined for an awful 0-for-10 shooting from the field.
Bolick and Barefield need to provide what they are capable of showing, especially on offense, if Gilas is to have a shot at advancing in this competition.
Both entered this tournament expected to play significant roles, and Gilas need that version of them to show up -- particularly if the game once again becomes a grind in the half court.
Gilas Pilipinas at the Asian Games
Gilas Pilipinas is drawn in Group C alongside Bahrain, Kazakhstan and China.
Fixtures
Sept. 11: Philippines vs. Bahrain
Sept. 12: Philippines vs. Kazakhstan
Sept. 14: Philippines vs. China
Tournament progression
Quarterfinals: Sept. 16
Semifinals: Sept. 18
Final: Sept. 20
