By Ivan Saldajeno
PASAY—When a coach discusses the difference in free throws in a losing effort, fans quickly assume that he thinks something is not right with the officiating.
On Sunday night, Iran head coach Sotiris Manolopoulos took note that Gilas Pilipinas shot more free throws than his squad during their FIBA World Cup Qualifiers match at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
However, instead of expressing his concerns about whether the referees were doing it right or not, the Greek tactician said that too much charities given up to Gilas was a sign of poor defense.
"The biggest problem was that they shot 20 free throws in the first half, and we shot only two. In the end, it was 27 free throws and six for us, and that means that we had to play better defense," Manolopoulos said.
Despite holding Gilas to 38.5 percent shooting and forcing them to 16 turnovers, Iran gave up 24 fouls in the process.
By halftime, Arman Zangeneh and Salar Taheri were in foul trouble while trying to guard June Mar Fajardo, who provided a lift in the second quarter of what would be his Gilas retirement game.
On the other hand, Gilas limited Iran to only 33.9 percent from the field while only giving up 14 fouls, much of them non-shooting fouls.
Despite the offensive struggles, Manolopoulos said that he was fine with the way Iran created its shots.
"Offensively, I have no complaints about the wide-open shots we took. They were wide open, but we didn't make them," he further said.
Manolopoulos then took note of the struggles Iran had from long range, only making eight three-pointers out of 31 attempts.
"With 8-for-31 open threes, you cannot win," he further said.
With Iran bowing to Gilas, coupled with Jordan dropping a blowout loss to Australia earlier Sunday, Gilas is now within striking distance of the two Middle East teams in the race for spots in next year's FIBA World Cup.
Iran has a tougher schedule ahead as it will play Australia twice, while Gilas has a relatively lighter schedule as it has to play Syria twice in their remaining four games each.
