Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin understands the magnitude of being part of the 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Belgrade, Serbia.

And one of the exciting storylines for Gilas when they face the world powerhouse Serbian team is how their young guards RJ Abarrientos and SJ Belangel could fair against the much-revered European superstar Milos Teodosic.

“The answer obviously with the point guard situation, we play against a player like Teodosic, you both want to compete; you’re desperate to test your skills against a player that has played at the level Milos has, and is the caliber of player he is,” Baldwin shared.

Both Belangel and Abarrientos had impressive showings during the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers third window in Pampanga a couple of weeks ago.

Belangel hit a game-winner against Korea in one of their two meetings against their Asian rival, while Abarrientos was consistent from playmaking and shot-making.

Now, the competition level has upped several notches, and Baldwin wants to approach the game with a mixture of excitement and learning points.

“The other thing is, you want to learn lessons. You want to realize that you are going up against the master of the game and there are things you can learn from the big picture when you go back and review the video,” Baldwin shared.

The 34-year-old Teodosic has carved out an incredible career in Europe, playing for teams like CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos before a brief stint with the Los Angeles Clippers.

He’s been awarded EuroLeague All-Decade 2010-20 All Decade Team on top of several championships and MVP awards in Russian, Greek, and Italian leagues.

The playmaker is trying to compete in his second Olympics, after the team finished with a silver in 2016 in Rio.

“You want to test yourself and see what you can learn from possession to possession,” Baldwin added. “So everything that he does well, you want to try to counter it as quickly as you can, and we do that in our scouting reports, we try to prepare our players, but there’s nothing like going out there and standing toe-to-toe against these great Serbian players.”

Teodosic did not suit up in the 2019 FIBA World Cup when Serbia dominated the Philippines, 126-67 in one of the rare times Gilas has fought the world no. 4 team.

Serbia had just beaten the Dominican Republic in their opener, 94-76 behind Boban Marjanovic’s 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Even without NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is still in the midst of a playoff run with the Atlanta Hawks, Baldwin considers Serbia an elite team.

And Gilas is just fortunate to get the exposure against topnotch international competition as its young roster continues to prepare for the next World Cup.

“There is a level of excitement for our players in that, but there’s also a great challenge,” Baldwin concluded. “And I think as long as we respect both of those thought-processes, the players will enjoy the process but they’ll also find out a lot about themselves and what they need to learn to improve themselves.”

Written by Levi Verora Jr.
Photos from FIBA