Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

Gilas Pilipinas will try to inch closer to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup when they resume action in the fifth window of the Asian Qualifiers on Friday, November 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Philippines, currently at third place in Group E with a 5-3 card behind Australia (7-1) and Iran (6-2), will try to solidify hold of the position when they face world no. 70 Kazakhstan on Friday at home, before taking on the Iranians on Monday, December 3 inside the same venue.

Their pair of home games will be open to the public once again, months after playing their most recent home game behind closed doors.

The two games will also be the last at home before Gilas plays two road matches in the sixth window in February 2019.

“We are as ready as we can be. We had a really hard practice (last Thursday). We put in enough work just to be ready for tomorrow. (On Friday), we are still doing a shootaround and a walkthrough,” Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao said.

“We should be ready. We don’t want to burn out the guys. We all want them to be well rested for (Friday). It is going to be a hard physical game so we have to be ready for that.”

Bannering Gilas in the game against Kazakhstan are Japeth Aguilar, June Mar Fajardo, Greg Slaughter, Poy Erram, Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood, Marcio Lassiter, Matthew Wright, Alex Cabagnot, Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio, and Stanley Pringle.

With the national team having a relatively tougher schedule than the current fourth-seeded Japan (4-4), it is only imperative for the nationals to win the next two games to stay in the upper half of the group.

Gilas most recently defeated Kazakhstan in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, 96-59 but Guiao does not want his squad to take anything for granted.

“Yung nangyari noong Asian Games, I’m sure they will make adjustments. We cannot totally rely on what they did in the Asian Games. I am sure they are going to do something different,” Guiao said. “It is basically the same preparation that we did but we are putting in a Plan B just in case they change their plans which is a possibility.”

Gilas played four tune-up games–two each against Jordan and Lebanon–prior to the fifth window of the qualifiers.

They won once against Jordan Wednesday last week, in a game where the visitors walked out following a verbal altercation between Guiao and the Jordanian side head coach Joseph Stiebing.

While Gilas’ exhibition matches didn’t translate to wins, Guiao believes they were helpful in establishing cohesion and adjusting well to the international style of play heading to their respective clashes against Kazakhstan and Iran.

“They are very helpful. The mind setting is very important. We know that they are going to be very physical and that is something that—especially the players coming from the PBA, we have to make adjustments too,” Guiao shared.

“Yung mga naglaro na sa Asian Games at sa fourth window, medyo may idea na. Pero kung galing ka lang sa PBA, fresh and a lot of them are coming in fresh from the PBA and not having played recently in international games, they will have to make that adjustments and we don’t want them to make that adjustments in the real game itself. Nag-adjust na tayo doon sa apat na tune-up games natin.”

A total of seven Asian teams–the top three teams in Groups E and F and the best fourth-placed side–will advance to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

By Levi Verora, Jr.