Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

Dominican Republic head coach Nestor Garcia had nothing but praise for Gilas Pilipinas’ bigs who tried their best to stop NBA all-star Karl-Anthony Towns in an 87-81 win on Friday in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

Towns registered a double-double of 26 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 15-of-16 from the free throw line as he kept drawing fouls against the Philippine frontline.

Still, Garcia commended the likes of AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo for holding their ground several times against the Minnesota Timberwolves star.

“The big guys of the Philippines, I think they are very smart, you know. Too much effort trying to stop Karl Towns because his game is on another level,” Garcia said.

‘I think they played physical, they tried to contain him, deny … it was tough for him playing against the big guys of the Philippines because I think, really, the desire of this [team], I watched that they played with too much effort trying to contain him.”

Gilas head coach Chot Reyes threw different defenders at Towns, with Edu, Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, and Jamie Malonzo all getting turns trying to stop the 7-foot big. Occasionally, Dwight Ramos would end up defending Towns on switches.

“There’s a reason why Karl-Anthony Towns is an NBA all-star. Still, can’t complain about the game of June mar and AJ Edu as well trying to stop Kat as much as he can,” Reyes said.

Fajardo and Edu combined for 23 points on a perfect 8-of-8 field goal clip and 12 rebounds as they became the one-two punch for the nationals against the taller Dominicans.

Reyes also mentioned that he sought to have Fajardo in post-up situations, but Towns played a tremendous part defensively too in denying the six-time PBA MVP his touches.

“I thought Karl-Anthony Towns did a good job of denying him, forcing him to step outside, and not giving him good low post position. Credit to them. We wanted to get him the ball a lot more, but they defended him well,” he shared.

In spite of the loss, Edu takes the experience as something he can use to improve himself as he aspires to play at a higher level.

“It’s kind of a surreal feeling playing against someone that you watch a lot on TV, seen in the all-star game, seen being the no. 1 pick, but those are the challenges that I love, that’s why I play the game of basketball, to play in front of a crowd like that or a challenge like that,” the former Toledo Rocket said.

“I love the opportunity of playing against him and that is the level I aim for one day. It was a great experience.”

Written by Levi Joshua Verora Jr.
Photos from fiba.basketball