HEAD Coach Yeng Guiao believes that naturalized player Andray Blatche remains as the cornerstone of the national team that is cramming in training for the sixth and last window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Guiao praised the 6-foot-11 big man for his “abilities” he described as “a great help” for his squad that faces a do-or-die situation in two road games against Qatar on February 21 and Kazakhstan on February 24.
“He’s lifting the morale of the team just because of his abilities. He’s bringing in a lot of confidence,” Guiao said. Blatche joined two straight practices since he arrived on Monday.
The NLEX Road Warriors coach was pleased with Blatche being injected into his system after the former National Basketball Association sat out the last two windows of the World Cup qualifiers.
Guiao noted that Blatche’s ability to score from inside and out will give their opponents major problems.
“He’s going to demand a double team definitely. I don’t think anybody from either Qatar or Kazakhstan could stop him one-on-one,” Guiao said. “He’s a very versatile player.”
The Philippines must bounce back from consecutive defeats in the last window that resulted to a 5-5 won-lost record for fourth place behind World Cup-bound Australia (9-1), Iran (7-3) and Japan (6-4).
Kazakhstan (4-6) and Qatar (2-8), meanwhile, are running fifth and sixth in Group F behind the Philippines.
A loss would send the Philippines crashing out of the qualifiers. Blatche knew that its crunch time for the team.
“It’s do or die for us. I’m going to give my all,” Blatche said.
Joining Blatche are June Mar Fajardo, Poy Erram, Troy Rosario, Marcio Lassiter, Paul Lee, Scottie Thompson, Roger Pogoy, Gabe Norwood, Marc Barroca, Raymond Almazan, Thirdy Ravena, Jayson Castro and Japeth Aguilar.