Aussie team, RP 5’s tune-up foe, arrives in Manila

MANILA, Philippines – The Motolite-Australian team that will play the Powerade-Team Pilipinas finally arrived to the country Wednesday and immediately went to business, sending a strong message to the nationals that this won’t only be an ordinary two-game exhibition series. Shortly after arriving on local soil early in the morning via Philippine Airlines PR 212, the Aussie team, composed of star players from the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), had a brief rest at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel, and then held practice later in the afternoon at the Jose Rizal University gym in Mandaluyong. San Miguel Beer will be the first team to test the Aussie squad, known as the Sharks, at the Acropolis gym in Pasig. “This is going to be a good gauge for us because the Australian team will be like the Middle Eastern teams with their size," said RP team big man Asi Taulava when informed the Aussies do mean business. Patrick Pilae, the Australian quintet’s 7-foot center, will be the match up waiting the 6-foot-9 Taulava in their April 3 and 5 duels at the Araneta Coliseum. “I’ve played a lot of seven-footers in my life. One guy isn’t going to make any difference," says Taulava of the 26-year old Pilae, a native of Pacific Island nation Samoa but now resides in Western Sydney. Pilae, who is bound to make Taulava, Mick Pennisi and Sonny Thoss – all standing six feet nine – look like school children in his presence, plays basketball in the Filipino heartland of Blacktown in New South Wales. He also suits up for the Australian rugby league during the winter season and will team up with Bruce Bolden, Anthony Susnjara, Terry Amir and Goran Veg to form an imposing defensive wall against the Yeng Guiao-coached SEABA-bound national team. But Taulava, who held his own against 7-foot-5 Chinese center Yao Ming during the 2002 Busan Asian Games, is unfazed. “Even though this guy is bigger, my mindset going to the game won’t change. We’re playing for flag and country, and that’s it. No reason to feel scared or intimidated." The Nationals – made up of James Yap, Kerby Raymundo, Kelly Williams, Ryan Reyes, Ranidel de Ocampo, Jared Dillinger, Jayjay Helterbrand, Gabe Norwood, Arwind Santos, Cyrus Baguio, Willie Miller, Taulava, Pennisi, and Thoss – are making their first public appearance after five months of limited training. Guiao hopes to address an inherent weakness of recent RP teams with the Australian series. “We will know how we fare against size. That has always been a problem for the Philippine team. Now we’ll find out if this one is good enough to play a big team." Noted for his run-and-gun philosophy in the pros, Guiao intends to “compensate" for his team’s lack of height with their “athletic" ability. “Can this team counter size? We’ll see," he says. “This is important, not just in the Australian series, but when the real tournaments come along, like the Jones Cup and the FIBA Asia." – GMANews.TV