A HANDICAPPED Philippine team braces for a gargantuan task of beating mighty China in its first assignment in the International Basketball Federation Asia Cup tomorrow in Beirut, Lebanon.
Gilas Pilipinas would be playing in the tough tournament minus its two big men—naturalized player Andray Blatche and June Mar Fajardo.
Blatche begged off from the tournament for “personal reasons”, while Fajardo injured his right calf muscle during San Miguel Beer’s game against TNT in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup last week.
Without the two big men who stand at 6-foot-10, Gilas Head Coach Chot Reyes would be leaning on 6-foot-9 Japeth Agular, 6-foot-8 Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger and 6-foot-7 Raymond Almazan.
“The biggest problem here is that we must beat China and top our group to have a better position in the quarterfinals. Hopefully we find a way to beat them,” Reyes said.
China parades a gigantic roster for the tournament with an average height of 6-foot-6.
Handled by Coach Du Feng, the reigning Asian champions have three 6-foot-10 players that would back up 7-foot-1 Han Dejun, a hefty center who averages in double figures with the Liaoning team in the Chinese league.
Reyes said they had difficulty scouting China, which opted to field a team of new and veteran players. China has the luxury of maintaining three pool teams.
“We will be facing a different team from our previous meeting [in 2015]. It will be really tough for us,” Reyes said.
After China, the Philippines will battle Iraq on Friday and Qatar on Sunday to complete its elimination phase assignments in Group B.
Leading Gilas’s campaign is reigning two-time best point guard in Asia Jayson Castro. Also on the team are Terrence Romeo, Calvin Abueva and Gilas cadets Jio Jalalon, RR Pogoy, Matthew Wright and Carl Bryan Cruz.
Group A is composed of Iran, Syria, Jordan and India; Group C is made up of Kazakhstan, Lebanon, South Korea and New Zealand; and Group D has Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Australia.
This marks the first time that Oceania teams Australia and New Zealand are incorporated in the Asian tournament.