Gilas bids to win each game in FIBA prelims

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas is looking forward to dominate its assignments in group plays to set a good pace and momentum heading to the next rounds of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship starting Wednesday in two playing venues in Changsha, China.

“The reality is, without in any way sounding arrogant, we understand that the first pool that we have is not the top teams in Asia. The horror story would be if we get complacent, relax and treat those as scrimmages,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin.

Meanwhile, a fracas forced the stoppage of a tune-up match between the Jordan national team and Barako Bull at the Green Meadows Gym in Quezon City yesterday.

The Jordan side of coach Rajko Toroman was leading, 82-69, with five minutes left to play when a fight erupted, triggered by an exchange of cheap shots between incoming PBA rookie Michael Miranda and Jordan center Mohammad Shaher Hussein.

Team Phl will be out for routs versus Palestine on Wednesday, Hong Kong Thursday and Kuwait Friday in Group B competition in the Changsha meet.

The top three from Group B will then advance to the next round, playing the top three from Group A among Iran, Japan, India and Malaysia. Then the top four from among these teams move to the knockout stage versus the top four among China, South Korea, Singapore, Jordan, Qatar, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan and Lebanon.

The last team that will remain standing on Oct. 3 will clinch the lone automatic Asian spot in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next year.

“The reality is we should control those (Group B) games reasonably well. Those are games where we can continue to evolve our system, refine and perfect what we’re trying to do,” Baldwin said.

“We need to be dominant of those games for our mentality and psychology,” Baldwin added.

The Philippines enjoyed a good break in being drawn with lightweights Palestine, Kuwait and Hong Kong, teams ranked outside the Top 10 in FIBA Asia’s Power Ranking.

In the next round, the Nationals are likely to face Iran, Japan and India. They must win at least two more games to be at No. 2 in their group, to face the No. 3 qualifier from the other bracket.

The best proposition is to sweep all games in the preliminaries that will make them the top seed in their group, to square off with the No. 4 seed from the other side.

Iran, however, will be a tough test with a team with solid players on all spots.

In the quarterfinal,  the start of the knockout stage, China is the most dangerous opponent with its home court advantage.

If the competing teams play according to the FIBA Asia Power Ranking, it will be China versus India, Jordan against Japan, Chinese Taipei opposite the Philippines and Kazakhstan versus Iran in the Final Eight.

 Baldwin has said the goal is to win every single game they’ll play in Changsha.

“Every single person’s goal is Rio. It’s not about going there to play well. It’s about going there to bring home the hardware,” said Baldwin.

In 2013 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Gilas Pilipinas played 10 games, winning eight on the way to a second-place finish behind Iran.

The Philippines topped Saudi Arabia, 78-66; toppled Jordan, 77-71; then was upset by Chinese Taipei, 79-84, in the first round.

In the second round, Gilas whipped Japan, 90-71; drubbed Qatar, 80-70; and swamped Hong Kong, 67-55, to be the top playoff qualifier from their group.

The Nationals then eased out Kazakhstan, 88-58, in the quarters; shocked South Korea, 86-79, in the semis, before bowing to Iran, 71-85, in the gold-medal game.