Gilas Pilipinas: Adelaide 36ers coach all praise for Philippines’ heart, Blatche dominance

Adelaide 36ers head coach Joey Wright was all praises for Gilas Pilipinas after the Philippines walked away with a 92-83 victory over the Australian club team Friday night in the 1st of 2 exhibition games as part of a goodwill games series.

Andray Blatche had 19 points, 18 boards, and 9 dimes in a virtuoso performance while 4 others tallied double-digits for the Filipinos.

Wright was a witness of how organized Gilas played, and had some good words for the nationals preparing for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

“They play with a lot of heart, a lot of passion. They got some guys that can shoot,” said Wright, who also took note of Blatche’s dominance.

“Blatche is just an unbelievable player, 18 rebounds and 19 points, he’s extremely dominant. He’s good enough to try to get them a few wins at the worlds.”

Like Gilas, the 36ers are preparing themselves for the upcoming NBL Australia season. The club has a rich history, having won 4 titles although they finished 5th in the most recent season.

Wright said he was “pretty happy” with the result of his 1st tune-up game, where players like Ramone Moore, Deshon Taylor, Obi Kyei, Daniel Dillon, and Daniel Johnson performed well.

“They gotta learn how we play the game of basketball, and how we coach, but they’re getting there. This is our first game, so I was pretty happy with it,” said Wright.

“It was a great game for us. Great first game for us. I thought they played a very good basketball game, we really enjoyed it, it was a good game, they executed very well.”

Photo from Adelaide 36ers Twitter