Moment of truth for Gilas

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the difficulties ahead, there’s a pervasively upbeat mood at the Gilas Pilipinas camp in Riga, Latvia.

Coach Tim Cone feels the Nationals are all poised to fight for the country in the race for the golden ticket to the Paris Olympics.

“It’s been a whirlwind trip so far and it’s hard to get a gauge on exactly where we are and how much we need to do in the limited time that we had,” Cone said in an interview on One Sports.

“But we’re real positive. We felt we’ve proven that we can stay with these guys, these European teams. We played our two friendlies pretty tough,” he added.

Cone’s Gilas 11 spent a good part of its pre-OQT buildup on the road, playing Turkey in Istanbul and Poland in Sosnowiec. They lost both, 73-84 and 80-82, but the twin friendlies served as a valuable workout and feel of Euro basketball that awaits in the July 2 to 7 meet versus host Latvia and Georgia.

Gilas takes a bye in the Qualifiers’ opening slate Tuesday night (early today in Manila), giving it an extra time of preparation and scouting opportunities in the Group A duel between the No. 6 Latvians and the No. 23 Georgians.

The Pinoy cagers take the court of the Arena Riga Wednesday at 7 p.m. (12 a.m. Thursday in Manila) against the hosts and their 12,000-strong supporters.

The Latvians won’t have Kristaps Porzingis, who underwent surgery after the Boston Celtics’ ascension to the NBA throne. But Davis Bertans of the Charlotte Hornets, former NBA players Rodions Kurucs and Dairis Bertans and the core of the crew that placed fifth in the FIBA World Cup in Manila last year will suit up.

Cone expects his brave warriors led by naturalized player Justin Brownlee, twin towers June Mar Fajardo and Kai Sotto and veteran internationalist Dwight Ramos to rise to the occasion.

“It’s going to be tough in front of this big crowd here when we play Latvia,” said Cone.

“But we feel we’ll match up with them pretty well; they’re not going to outsize us. But they’re really good in their execution, in the way they move the ball and we’re going to do a lot of chasing throughout the game.”

Fajardo and Sotto will play big roles versus Latvia.

“We’ll see if we can get the ball down to June Mar and Kai. I think that’s going to be our advantage against them,” said Cone.

It will be a quick turnaround after the Latvia gig, though, as Gilas returns to the arena merely eight hours later on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. in Manila) for the showdown with Georgia.

After this, the Nationals hope to continue the fight in Saturday’s crossover semis and Sunday’s finale, defy the odds and ultimately realize their Olympic dreams.