Indonesia is still a Threat: Indonesian Players Whom Gilas Needs to Watch Out

Indonesia may be heading into a blowout game tonight against Gilas Pilipinas in their second game of the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers but it doesn't mean that the Rajko Toroman-coached Indonesian team won't be competing. After all, they are playing in front of their home crowd and for any national team, playing in front of your home crowd inspires you more to get out there and get that big W.

And while Gilas Pilipinas has been beating the Indonesians by an average margin of 30 points per game in the past 5 encounters, one has to point out that Indonesia has been playing with a injury-plagued team and no, Lester Prosper, Indonesia's naturalized player, has missed all of the past of the Indonesians dating back to last year's SEA Games here in the country and he will continue to sit out due to a passport issue. Sure, Korea may have beaten Indonesia by 33 points in the Asia Cup qualifier game last week but Indonesia actually had a 6-point lead against the mighty Koreans at the end of the first quarter before the Koreans torched the Indonesians in the second and third quarter. In short, Gilas Pilipinas must not be complacent against a depleted Indonesian side. And yes, Indonesia still has good players who can put up decent numbers for  Rajko Toroman.

In the absence of Lester Prosper and Indonesian-American player, Brandon Jawato, Rajko Toroman will rely on Abraham Grahita, Andakara Dhyaska, and Kevin Sitorus. And those are the players whom Gilas will need to keep their eyes open for because if the three mentioned players get just even an ounce of confidence, they can turn things around for the home team.     

Against Korea, Grahita led the host team with 25 points on 6 for 16 field goal shooting including two threes and went 11 for 11 from the free-throw line. Dhyaska, on the other hand, had 14 points under his name and shot 4 for 11 from the three-point distance while Sitorus added two made threes to finish with 11 points and 5 rebounds

Who will match-up against the three mentioned players?

It depends on who Mark Dickel will include in his starting line up but for starters, Troy Rosario should have his hands full in guarding Kevin Sitorus while Dhyaksa will be pitted against one of Gilas' point guards, perhaps team captain Kiefer Ravena?  Grahita? It could potentially be RR Pogoy's headache to deal with. Fortunately, Dickel has a line-up filled with players who can match-up against the three said players of Indonesia and most of them can play multiple positions. 

Photo is from FIBA