GILAS PIlipinas is exactly where it wanted to be at this point in the continental qualifier for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The huge epic victory over defending champion Iran gave the Philippines a favorable route going into the gold-medal game as the Filipinos, ranked No. 1 in Group E, battle Group F’s No. 4 Lebanon in the knockout quarterfinal stage of the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia Men’s Championship on Thursday in Changsa, China.
The game is set at 9:30 p.m. with the winner facing the survivor of the Qatar and Japan game, which will collide at 4:45 p.m. also on Thursday, in the semifinals on Friday.
Host China, the No. 1 team in Group F, takes on Group E fourth seed India at 7:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to the semifinals against the victor of Iran-South Korea encounter at 2:30 p.m.
Gilas survived a horrific start in the Olympic qualifying tournament, losing to unranked Palestine, 73-75, but went on to win its next five games, including a sweep of the second phase of the preliminary round.
The highlight of the sweep was a stunning 87-73 triumph over reigning titlist Iran to emerge No. 1 in Group E.
Naturalized player Andray Blatche is starting to get back his old form, while Jayson Castro continues to impress.
Blatche is averaging 16.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, both team highs, while Castro, a member of the Mythical Five of the Manila 2013 Asian Championship, is scoring 16.2 per game and is tops in assists for the team with 2.3.
Head Coach Tab Baldwin also lauded the contribution of his second unit, led by Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva, both first-timers in the Gilas Pilipinas program.
Romeo is contributing 14.7 points per game, while Abueva has been the energy guy for Gilas with 9.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest in just 17.6 minutes a game of exposure.
The Filipinos face a dangerous Lebanon team, which sealed its entry to the knockout quarterfinal stage with a stunning 80-76 win over the Rajko Toroman-coached Jordan on Tuesday night.
The Vaselin Matic-coached squad is bannered by its naturalized player Jasmon Juvan Youngblood, who is averaging 19 points per game in the tournament. Other notable players in the squad are Mohamad Ali Haidar (14.3 ppg) and Ahmad Ibrahim (12.0 ppg).
Only the champion of the tournament earns the ticket to Rio. The last time the Philippines played in the Olympics was in 1972 in Munich, Germany. The squad was composed of William Adornado, Narciso Bernardo, Joy Cleofas, Jimmy Mariano, Danny Florencio, Yoyong Martirez, Manny Paner, Ed Ocampo, Tembong Melencio, Jun Papa and Freddie Webb. Ignacio “Ning” Ramos was the head coach with Domingo Itchon as team manager.
Image credits: AP