Gilas Pilipinas preparing for tough road in Asian Games
EVEN though it outranks Bahrain and Thailand in the totem pole and finished higher than Jordan in the last FIBA World Cup, Gilas Pilipinas is under no illusion the coming Asian Games would be easy.
“We know we have a tough road ahead of us,” Gilas interim coach Tim Cone said of what’s up ahead in the Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 Asiad in Hangzhou, China.
Mr. Cone’s troops face Bahrain, a Middle East side sitting 44 places lower in the FIBA world rankings, in the Group C opener. The 94th-ranked Thais, the Philippines’ regular prey in the Southeast Asian Games, is next before the WC 23rd-placing Filipinos battle Jordan, a squad that wound up 32nd and last in the global meet.
“We don’t know much about Bahrain but we’re trying to figure it out. We know Thailand from the SEA Games and they’ve gotten better and better with their naturalized players and Thai-Americans. Their program’s really growing by leaps and bounds so we know they’re going to be tough,” said Mr. Cone.
As for Jordan, the Middle Eastern squad is topbilled by TNT’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (RHJ), a skilled man responsible for taking the PBA Governors’ Cup away from Mr. Cone and Gilas counterpart Justin Brownlee.
“Justin (Brownlee) already has the experience of playing Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson) so we know how tough he is. And he played really, really well in the World Cup, he was amazing,” said Mr. Cone of RHJ.
If Gilas does get past the group stages, a potential showdown with Japan and Korea looms. The Japanese reportedly has a team for the Asian Games separate from the side that took the highest Asian honors in the World Cup (WC). The Koreans, meanwhile, have been preparing solely for the Asian Games since they weren’t in the global hoopfest.
Then there’s host China, which should be raring to give Gilas a home beatdown in the mold of the latter’s 96-75 blowout in the WC.
“If we win (a seat in the next stage), we’ll probably cross over with either Japan or Korea so that’s not going to be easy either. And China will be there somewhere along the line,” said Mr. Cone.
“We haven’t spent too much time thinking about it (opposition), they’re not right in front of us yet. Right now, we’re trying to do the day-to-day, trying to get ourselves prepared. But we know we’ve got a tough road and we have to figure out a way to play Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson),” he added. — Olmin Leyba
