The Gilas quest for glory
After several qualifying games, 32 teams advanced to the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China and the two-week battle begins on August 31 up to September 15. Teams are grouped into 8 of 4 teams each and will play 3 games in the first round. The top two teams in each group will then advance to the round of 16 teams. This round is important as the 16 teams who advanced are automatically qualified to four Olympic qualifiers scheduled to begin on June 2020.
After the round of 16, the remaining 8 teams that moves on to the quarterfinal qualifies for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which Japan automatically qualifies as host of the Games.
Including host China, FIBA Asia and Oceania had seven other qualifiers in Jordan, Iran, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines.
In Group D with European powerhouses Serbia and Italy and perennial FIBA Africa contender Angola, Gilas Pilipinas start their quest in Foshan, China on August 31 against the Italians, silver medal winners during the 2004 Athens Olympics, who will possibly have active NBA players Danilo Gallinari and Marco Belinelli in the lineup.
Both Italians average double figures in their respective NBA teams and they would pose major coverage problems. Gallinari is 6-10 and will be too strong for Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario, Raymond Almazan or Gabe Norwood. Belinelli would be too smart for either Marcio Lassiter, Matthew Wright, Calvin Abueva or perhaps RR Pogoy.
The 7-foot Andrea Bargnani is reportedly retired and the combo of Andray Blatche and June Mar Fajardo just might make life a bit difficult for the Italians in the middle. Our backcourt could spell the difference in this matchup.
On September 2, let’s all give the game to Serbia, ranked number 4 in the world, who for many years had been supplying the NBA with elite talent. This team could have three active and productive NBA players (Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Boban Marjanovic) and at least three other players with NBA experience. The best we can do is not to fall behind by more than 10 points when the final buzzer had sounded.
The Gilas will meet Angola on September 4 and fans have the mistaken notion that we can beat Africa’s most dominant team for more than 20 years. They are their region’s version of the mighty China of Asian basketball and they may not have legit NBA players on their roster but the Angolans qualified for the Olympics 5 consecutive times from Barcelona 1992 to Beijing 2008.
We hope to improve on our one-game win the last time around and move on the next round. Five months would be ample time for coach Yeng Guiao and his staff to prepare the Gilas pool for the selection of the final 12-man lineup.
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