Manila Chooks TM bows out of 2021 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters

The Manila Chooks TM finished in 11th place in the 2021 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters after they lost both of their games at the Kasr Al Amwaj in Abu Dhabi.

Manila Chooks TM was overwhelmed by world no. 4 Liman, absorbing an 11-21 loss in their opening game in Pool D. They then shot blanks and lost 8-22 to World No. 5 Amsterdam of the Netherlands to bow out of the tournament.

The Philippine-side finished 11th out of 14 teams in this maximum level tournament. Utrecht, Minakami, and Abu Dhabi were the bottom three teams.

Cebuano Mac Tallo and the rest of his teammates simply could not find the basket 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.

Veterans 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.

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 three points for Manila Chooks TM while Zach Huang and Lanete had two points apiece. Yee had one point and a game-high six rebounds.

In their first game, dominant were the Serbians who raced to a 9-3 lead early and never looked back. World no. 4 Mihailo Vasic and no. 11 Aleksandar Ratkov took turns in pounding the Filipinos inside during the rally.

Though Mac Tallo tried to cool Liman with a couple of deuces, the mastery of the Liman quartet of the halfcourt game proved to be too much for Manila Chooks TM.

Tallo was the leading scorer for Manila Chooks TM with eight points. Mark Yee had four rebounds and two points while Chico Lanete had a solitary point.