Gilas braces for uphill battle in Beirut

MANILA, Philippines — With Fil-Am NBA player Jordan Clarkson, towering Kai Sotto and some of the country’s best pro ballers in uniform, Gilas Pilipinas is fielding its strongest yet under coach and program director Chot Reyes.

This current iteration of Gilas, a powered-up version from the youth-laden and short-handed crews that struggled in the last two international sorties, gets tested as it kicks off the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers tonight in Lebanon (early Friday in Manila).

And this road assignment is as tough as it gets for standing on the other side of the court is Lebanon, a powerhouse that brought back the core of its silver-winning squad in the FIBA Asia Cup for the battle against Clarkson and Co.

Game is set for 9 p.m. Thursday at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut (2 a.m. Friday in the Philippines).

“Lebanon is a formidable opponent, definitely,” Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director and spokesman Sonny Barrios said.

He cited the Cedars’ incredible run in their last 23 FIBA-sanctioned games, where they lost only two games.

“And their last loss was the two-point loss to Australia in the championship of the last FIBA Asia Cup so mabigat ang laban. Pero we are confident we will play well,” said Barrios.

“Syempre hindi natin masabing siguradong tatalunin natin pero siguradong lalaban tayo nang magandang laban,” he added.

Clarkson and Sotto lead the 13-man pool Reyes and assistants Tim Cone and Jong Uichico formed for the Lebanon test.