Manila Chooks TM bow out of FIBA 3X3 WT Abu Dhabi

Manila Chooks TM went cold at the worst of times.

Shooting woes plagued Manila Chooks TM as it suffered a deflating 8-22 loss (9:03.3) at the hands of world No. 5 Amsterdam of the Netherlands to bow out of the 2021 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters at the Kasr Al Amwaj here on Friday, October 29 (Saturday, October 30, Manila time).

Coupled by their 11-22 (8:09) loss to Liman earlier in the day, the Philippine-side finished 11th out of 14 teams in this maximum level tournament. Utrecht, Minakami, and Abu Dhabi were the bottom three teams.

“Of course, we’re disappointed,” said Manila Chooks TM head trainer Aldin Ayo. “Even if we did not have Mike (Nzeusseu), it’s no excuse for the performance that we had.

“We are looking to reassess our lineup for the 2022 pro circuit,” he added.

Mac Tallo and the rest of the Manila quartet simply struggled to find the hole early on despite getting good looks.

Amsterdam, on the other end, pounded the Filipinos who were missing Cameroonian Mike Nzeusseu in the paint, racing to a 13-4 lead with four minutes left.

Old dogs Mark Yee and Chico Lanete tried to bring a semblance of fight but the momentum was clearly with Amsterdam.

A split from the stripe by world No. 14 Julian Jaring with 1:03 left followed by a deuce courtesy of No. 15 Maksim Kovacevic seconds later punched Amsterdam’s ticket to the next round.

Amsterdam finished with a 1-1 slate, losing to Liman as well, 16-10.

World No. 12 Dimeo van der Horst led Amsterdam with 8 points and 5 rebounds while Kovacevic had 7 points and 5 rebounds.

Jaring and Aron Roijé had 4 and 3 points, respectively.

Horrid was the shooting of Manila Chooks TM, going just 6-of-24 from the field and 0-of-5 from the stripe.

Tallo had 3 points for Manila Chooks TM while Zachy Huang and Lanete had 2 points apiece. Yee had 1 point and a game-high 6 rebounds.

Against Liman, Tallo was the leading scorer for Manila with 8 points – all coming from rainbow country. Yee had 4 rebounds and 2 points while Lanete had a solitary point.

World No. 11 Aleksandar Ratkov had 6 points and 5 rebounds for Liman while Stefan Kojic also had 6 points built on two deuces. Nebojsa Kilijan had 5 points and 5 rebounds while No. 4 Mihailo Vasic had 3 points.

Liman will face Ulaanbaatar in the quarterfinals while Amsterdam squares off against Riga Ghetto. Other matchups are Ub versus Princeton and Antwerp against Gagarin. – Rappler.com