A Big Gilas Win Over Indonesia: The Big Numbers

If anything, last night's 100-70 win by Gilas Pilipinas over the Rajko Toroman-mentored Indonesian national team to open Gilas' schedule for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers wasn't surprising as Gilas has been beating Indonesia by an average margin of 30 points in the past 5 encounters of both squads. And while it helped Gilas' cause that Indonesia was without some of its best players including their naturalized player in Lester Prosper, it should be pointed out that this Gilas Pilipinas squad is loaded with mostly young but experienced stars of Philippine basketball with JP Erram, Troy Rosario, Kiefer Ravena, and RR Pogoy being the only holdovers from the team that played in last year's SEA Games and even further. The rest are amateur stars, a couple of incoming rookies in the PBA and surprisingly, a college player who hasn't played a single UAAP game. And yes, the team looked as smooth as silk especially in the second-half where Gilas outscored the hosts, 63-42. So, how did Gilas fare in last night's road win?

The Ravena Effect: Both are Phenomenal

Some questioned Mark Dickel's decision to appoint Kiefer Ravena as team captain of Gilas Pilipinas. Or the inclusion of both Ravena brothers into the final line-up.

If anything, last night's win should silence the doubters as both Thirdy and Kiefer Ravena put up great numbers to fuel Gilas' win.

Thirdy Ravena came off the bench and led the team in scoring with 23 points on top of 8 rebounds, and 3 assists. He went 3 for 4 from the three-point line and also had a pair of highlight blocks. His older brother, Manong Kiefer, had 10 points and shot 40% from deep. He also added 4 steals and 3 dimes to his stat line. If anything, we should expect more of these numbers from the Ravena siblings in the coming windows of the Asia Cup qualifiers.

Gilas Dominated in Almost Everything 

For starters, Gilas grabbed 55 rebounds compared to Indonesia 33. But the major difference in this category was the battle in the offensive boards where the Filipinos outrebounded their Indonesian counterparts, 23-7 which led to 18 second-chance points for the visitors. Gilas Pilipinas was also able to score on the break as they outscored the hosts,  23-5 in fast break points.  The bench of our national team also stepped up as they outscored counterparts, 51-15 led by none other than Thirdy Ravena's 23 points. Defensively, Gilas forced Indonesia to commit 16 turnovers from the Filipinos scored 20 points. Gilas also had 15 steals.

It was a Team Effort

Despite the 30-point win, it was never a one-man show for the Filipinos as Thirdy Ravena got a lot of help from his teammates. 4 other Gilas players finished with at least 10 points in last night's victory as RR Pogoy had 16 points while CJ Perez added 11 points including a breakaway dunk. Kiefer Ravena and Juan Gomez De Liano combined for 20 points and 5 steals. Isaac Go was the lone player who didn't score for the Filipinos and he didn't need to. Instead, Go had 7 rebounds.

Gilas' balanced attack was a far cry from Indonesia's two-man show of Andakara Dhyaksa and Abraham Grahita who combined for 45 points but no one else from Rajko Toroman's line-up followed suit. 

Photo is from FIBA