PBA players who made their Gilas Pilipinas debuts at the recent Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games acknowledged that the campaign fell short of what they had hoped for.
‘We really came up short,’ Rain or Shine’s Adrian Nocum said on Saturday after his team claimed a 119-111 win over Meralco in a tuneup game at Acropolis Gym in Quezon City.
Nocum and other members of the ill-fated squad that finished ninth-the Philippines’ worst placing in the Asian Games-are back with their respective teams, gearing up for the resumption of the Governors’ Cup on Wednesday.
The Asian Games marked Nocum’s first experience playing at a major international level, and he hopes the lessons from the campaign will serve him well moving forward, particularly if another opportunity to play for the national team comes his way.
‘It may not have been the best result for the team, but we learned a lot,’ Nocum said in Filipino. ‘It is something we will carry with us into the PBA, and if we ever get another chance to play for Gilas.’
Nocum played through an ankle injury, another source of regret from his Asian Games stint. Converge’s Justin Arana dealt with a similar injury but offered no excuses.
What Arana learned in Japan was that there is little room to ease up.
‘At least when I get another chance, I already know what the competition is like,’ Arana said in Filipino. ‘You can’t relax or get complacent because everyone is faster and bigger. You have to be ready every time your name is called.’
Nocum, Arana, Blackwater’s Sedrick Barefield, San Miguel Beer’s Jerrick Ahanmisi and Magnolia’s Zavier Lucero made their international debuts at the Asian Games, with the newcomers producing mixed results.
Barefield and Ahanmisi had their share of solid performances for Gilas, while Lucero emerged as one of the team’s more consistent performers despite the disappointing campaign.
The Asian Games came during a long break in the PBA schedule after the league paused the Governors’ Cup from mid-August until Wednesday.