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| Gilas Pilipinas will not change players for their home stand against Australia. Richard Esguerra (file photo) |
MANILA--There will be no changes for Gilas Pilipinas for Sunday's FIBA World Cup Qualifiers home stand against Australia at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The same 12-man lineup that played New Zealand, Juan Gomez De Liano, Quentin Millora-Brown, Chris Newsome, Scottie Thompson, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Kevin Quiambao, Justin Brownlee, Carl Tamayo, and AJ Edu, will still be Gilas' dozen against Australia.
This implies that Troy Rosario, Balti Baltazar, and RJ Abarrientos will remain behind the Gilas bench despite fans' concerns about both Fajardo and Brownlee's struggles.
In what could be his worst performance since he began playing in the Philippines in 2016, Brownlee was held to only four points on 2-of-10 shooting as his clutch shooting was dearly missed in Gilas' close loss to the Tall Blacks.
Fajardo, on the other hand, was held scoreless with only two rebounds in a performance uncharacteristic of a reigning nine-time PBA MVP and an all-time elite rebounder.
The 6-foot-10 behemoth also tallied the worst plus-minus at -20 as he could not get his game going against New Zealand's defense.
The Sunday night game marks the first time Gilas will host Australia since the infamous July 2, 2018 brawl at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue.
Fajardo, assistant coach Jong Uichico, and Nick Kay are the only people from the said game who will be on the hardwood again when their teams face off.
