Asi Taulava vows: Gilas Pilipinas will be fearsome in the second round

CHANGSHA, China - Asi Taulava could not forget Gilas Pilipinas' opening day loss against Palestine in the FIBA Asia Championship on Wednesday.

The 42-year-old center has been on many tours of duty as a member of the national team, enough to know that the early bump in their campaign cast a pretty bad first impression on opponents and fans back home.

"I think at first when we lost, everybody thought that we're gonna be a pushover team," the veteran said. "But I guess we made a statement in the last two games."

After suffering the 75-73 upset against the tournament newcomers, the Philippines made sure to improve the team's stained image by thrashing Hong Kong and Kuwait in the next two games.

Gilas dealt Hong Kong a 101-50 beatdown and Kuwait a 110-64 blow out, sending a strong message to teams they have yet to face by showing what a locked in Philippine team can do.

And now that the team has safely made it past the first round of the preliminaries, Taulava wants Gilas Pilipinas to be seen as a dangerous opponent by other teams.

"We don't wanna let it end there. We want to continue building going into the second round," he said. "What we're gonna do is put fear on the teams, knowing the Filipino style of basketball."

The Rock also extended his gratitude to fans who weathered the storm of their first game loss and stuck with the team in their quest to bring home the gold medal and a ticket to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next year.

"Thank you for supporting us through the tough first game and now we're starting to get our groove back," he said. "The Road to Rio continues in the second round." - RAF, GMA News