Guiao raves over Koreans speed, shooting

TIANJIN – RP coach Yeng Guiao has finally found the team he was looking for. Sadly, it’s not Powerade Team Pilipinas but the Korean squad which they face in a crucial tiff today.

“They have what it takes to be successful in international competition: size, quickness, outside shooting,” said Guiao of the Koreans on the eve of their encounter closing the initial round of elimination phase of the 25th FIBA Asia Championship here.

The Nationals and the Koreans, old rivals in Asian basketball, clash at 9 p.m. at the Tianjin Gym.

“What they’ve got are the things we’re hoping to have in our team. Seeing them here only bolstered my belief that they would be bigger problem compared to Japan,” Guiao also said.

“They used to be just a good outside-shooting team. But not anymore now that they have a 7-foot-3 center in Ha Seung-Jin. They now have threats from the outside and at the paint,” Guiao added.

Guiao hopes the Nationals – who were to take on Japan late last night – get into the flow of their game early and cope with the Koreans’ shooting to have a chance at winning the game.

The Koreans showed impressive form in clobbering the Japanese and the Sri Lankans in their first two games in this Asian meet serving as the regional qualifier for the 2010 world championship in Turkey.

It would be remembered that Korea beat the Philippines, 83-80, in the recent Jones Cup competition in Taipei even in the absence of Ha, a former Portland Trailblazer in the NBA.

Previous to that, Korea denied the Philippines a shot at the gold medal in the 2002 Busan Asian Games on a killer three-pointer by Lee Sang Min just before the final buzzer sounded.

The Koreans, showing up here with a more potent lineup, are among those fancied to make the Top Three.

Now handled by former Korean hotshot Hur Jae, the Koreans played above expectation in a 95-74 drubbing of the Japanese Thursday. Less than 24 hours later, they returned to the court to clobber the Sri Lankans, 122-54.

The Nationals walloped the Sri Lankans, 115-31, Thursday and would keep in step with the Koreans should they beat the Japanese last night.

Both RP and Korea are looking to win as many games possible in the initial round before playing the top three placers in Group B.

The top four from the A-B bracket then advance to the knockout stage, joining the top four from the C-D cluster.

Asi Taulava and Japeth Aguilar must neutralize Ha and the rest have to cope with Korea’s fluid-motion game for the Powerade RP to have a better chance of winning.

Against Sri Lanka, Powerade RP converted just 57 percent of its shots, missing 13 three-pointers.

The Nationals also muffed 10 foul shots as against the combined seven missed free throws by South Korea (14 of 18) and Japan (16 of 19) during their game.