MANILA — Chot Reyes responded to coach Harry Savaya's claim that the Gilas Pilipinas coach blamed his own players for their lone defeat against Cambodia in the preliminaries of the recent 32nd Southeast Asian Games men's basketball competition.

Savaya, whose Cambodian team eventually lost against the nationals in the finals, mocked Reyes for "making excuses" over Gilas Pilipinas’ 79-68 loss to Cambodia in the group phase.

"He (Reyes) blamed the weather, he blamed everything, he blamed the players, I don't do that," said the Lebanese coach.

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"I can teach him if he wants—about coaching in Europe, and everywhere, the places that he's never been."

But Reyes said in an interview on Pasada sa Teleradyo: "I was just stating facts."

"First of all, as a coach that's one of my sacred principles. I never blame my players."

The Gilas coach maintained that they were made to play under substandard conditions not suitable for high-level basketball.

In lieu of the traditional polished wood, basketball players were made to run on linoleum covered court. The insufficient air conditioning in the arena also made the court slippery, leading to injuries to some of the players.

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"Maglaro ka ba naman sa linoleum. 'Yung linoleum madulas and then 'yung air condition konting pawis it's already slippery," reasoned Reyes.

"And they would say, 'Lahat naman doon naglaro,' but my point is that it's substandard, we shouldn't be even be playing there in the first place."

Reyes added that the lack of air conditioning also affected Justin Brownlee's performance, hastening Gilas' defeat.

"The first time na nakalaban namin ang Cambodia 'yung punong puno ang arena, hindi lang 'yung moisture ang mainit. In Justin Brownlee's words, 'The air is heavy.' Hindi ka makahinga. Suffocating," he said.

Fortunately, they were able to make adjustments when they battled the Cambodians again in the finals.

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"Marami kaming ginawa on the recovery side. We made sure that our players were properly hydrated and recovered well," said Reyes.

"In terms of basketball naman... tiningnan namin ang pinaka importe yung semifinals na KO match. So nag-decide kaming coaching staff na magtatago tayo ng baraha in the KO semifinals match."

"Our goal talaga kasi was to win the gold."

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