A look at Thailand in the Bahrain bubble

As tip-off in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers gets closer in Bahrain, we now shift our focus to the opponents of Gilas Pilipinas in the form of Thailand. In which we will play them not just once, but twice already.

You already know by now that it was more than nine months since both of these teams were in the court for this competition, albeit they are coming to Manama in contrasting results to open their record in Group A.

With current leader South Korea opting not to play in the bubble, the pressure is on for both the Philipppines and Thailand who will move up the top of the pile in a battle between rivals in Southeast Asian basketball.

The front end of the doubleheaders is a make-up for the original February 20 game that was supposed to be held under the lights of the Big Dome, but it was scrapped by FIBA itself owing to the pandemic.

On a handicap

Tyler Lamb is arguably the Thai’s best bet when it comes to basketball, hands down. Already a champion in the ASEAN Basketball League (2017 with Hong Kong Eastern), the guard is a nightmare for the opposing defence as he cannot just hit those buckets, but he can create them.

Surely enough, interim coach Manid Niyomyindee will surely miss his 28-point outburst in Seoul, where they fought tooth and nail before losing steam on a seven-point setback.

However, he will not be around this time in the Arabian Gulf as the Basketball Sport Association of Thailand made a decision to send only ten players, owing to the pandemic. Which makes sense at all considering the global health crisis.

What also made it astounding is that there are no players from the fabled Mono Vampire club, which was home to Lamb, forward Darongpan Apiromvilaichai, guard Chitchai Ananti and slotman Teerawat Chantachon.

Veterans, for a reason

With the Mono quartet out of the equation, the Thais will bank on the eight players from Hi-Tech Bangkok City that formed a solid core with the last two coming from TGE, who both played in the TBL and the TBSL.

Their chemistry is a huge plus for coach Manid, who is no stranger to fill in the shoes of foreign mentors, especially with Chris Daleo still in the United States as the pandemic causing restrictions to travel.

In contrast to the youth of Gilas Pilipinas, Thailand is armed with experience in playing together in the national setup, having been long-serving members, stretching from last year’s SEA Games up to the first window.

Among those veterans are TGE's Anucha Langsui and Hi-Tech's troika of Nakorn Jaisanuk, Chatpol Chungyampin and Nattakarn Muangboon.

So there’s no surprise that they will have optimize their veteran smarts in which they hope to catch not just Gilas, but Indonesia by surprise as they will play the most games in Group A, with three.

Players to watch: Wattana Suttisin (guard) and Chanatip Jakwaran (center)

Make no mistake about it, the Hi-Tech pair will be a marked men for coach Joseph Uichico on their scouting reports, as it showed in their Group A opener against South Korea in which they backstop the aforementioned Tyler Lamb in their valiant effort last February 23.

Both of them pitched in for 15 points each, with the younger Jakwaran holding his nerve against Kim Jong-kyu at the paint as the more experienced Suttisin partnered with Lamb at the backcourt.

It also helped that the 23 year-old slotman was on form the past week, winning the MVP honors at the Thailand Open in which Hi-Tech won over TGE. His activity at the shaded lane will be looked closely by Justine Baltazar and Kenmark Carino as they take turns in marking him for the game.

Meanwhile, the 35-year old will be the defensive assignment of Dwight Ramos, as Juan Gomez De Liano will surely be matching him up on the scoring side of things.

PHOTOS: FIBA