DUBAI – What they lack in manpower and ceiling, Smart Gilas Pilipinas hopes to make up with its speed and outside shooting as it guns for a finals berth against a fancied Al Riyadi of Lebanon side in the 21st Dubai Invitational at the Al Ahli Indoor Stadium here Friday.
The Filipinos ran a taller Al Jazeera of Egypt side to the ground with their speed, hustle and outside firepower to complete their fightback from 15 points down for an 82-78 victory in their quarterfinal clash last Thursday and a semis duel with Al Riyadi, a team teeming with American players.
That includes CJ Giles, the former Smart Gilas import, Nate Johnson and Shawn Colson, a naturalized American-born player in Joe Vogel, a US-born Lebanese in Matt Freije and a Canadian-raised Lebanese in Ali Mahmoud.
“I know Lebanon is a big team. We were actually joking that this is an American team plus three imports and members of Lebanese squad,” said Smart Gilas’ Serbian coach Rajko Toroman.
“That means they’re very strong, they’ve one of the best players in the tournament (Johnson), they have Vogel, they have CJ Giles, they have one point guard who is playing in the NBA (Colson), three or four more playing in the NBA,” said Toroman.
The RP cagers, who continued to defy the odds by stringing victories after an opening day loss to Syria, will indeed need a lot of luck and a big fighting heart to overcome the Lebanese team.
“Our players didn’t play in the professional league until now so that makes Al Riyadi the big favorite. But you know these guys showed the heart and I believe it will be a tough time for Al Riyadi tomorrow (Friday),” Toroman said.
Al Riyadi also boasts of players with NBA experience, including Colson, who saw action for the Atlanta Hawks and the Houston Rockets in 2000 and 2001, Freije, who suited up for the Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets and Atlanta Hawks from 2004-2007, and Vogel, who played for the Seattle Supersonics in 1996 and Giles for the Los Angeles Lakers a few years back.
But Toroman said they will continue to make up for their lack in size with speed, outside shooting and a big fighting heart.
“These guys showed they’re very respectable because if you miss something in size you got something from your heart for playing for the country, pride for the country and I’m very, very proud of them because today (Thursday) they showed they’re really, really respectable team and in the future this team will say something in Asian basketball,” said Toroman.
“The last time we won over this team. They played Ali Mahmoud, Ali El Turk, Nate Johnson in Jakarta and they have a good team but we won the game,” said Toroman.
“But I think they’re stronger now than in Jakarta. Ali Mahmoud is the key to their play because he’s now in top shape and he pushes the team,” said Toroman.
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