DALAWANG friendly games ang nakatakdang sabakan ng Gilas Pilipinas kontra Adelaide 36ers ng Australia ngayong weekend.

Layunin ng nasabing mga exhibition matches na maihanda ang national teampara sa FIBA World Cup at muling mabuo ang magandang samahan ng bansa at ng Australia matapos ang nangyaring kaguluhan sa pagitan ng Gilas at ng kanilang national squad noong nakaraang world championship qualifiers sa Philippine Arena sa Bulacan.

Ayon kay national coach Yeng Guiao, ang unang plano ay magkaroon ng friendly game sa pagitan ng Gilas at ng Boomers na kapwa naghahanda para sa World Cup.

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“We suggested that we play the Australian national team week before, but our schedules could not match,” ani Guiao sa welcome party para sa 36ers sa Meralco Multi Purpose Hall.

“So the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) did the next best thing which is to invite the Adelaide 36ers, which I thought would be good for Philippine basketball as we wanted to erase some of the memories of the past and replace them with good memories.”

Dumalo sa okasyon ang buong Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas sa pamumuno ni Chairman Emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan at President Al Panlilio, kasama si PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial upang ipakita ang kanilang taos pusing effort upang maibaon na sa limot ang nangyaring di pagkakaunawaan sa pagitan ng Gilas at ng Boomers.

Ikinatuwa naman ito ni 36ers owner at CEO Ben Kavenagh.

“We wanted to come back here and play and show people that it was just one incident and we can come back here and play, and we’ll be OK,” wika naman ni 36ers coach Joey Wright, na dating naging import ng Presto noong 1992.

“Nothing like that will happen, so it’s just one incident and we want to let it go.”

Inaasahan ni Guiao na matinding laban ang mamamagitan sa kanila ng mga Aussies na 4-time champion sa National Basketball League.