Virtual must-win FIBA window

Not to put pressure on Gilas but the reality is the fourth FIBA World Cup Asia qualifying window is a virtual must-win for the Philippines considering its precarious standing with six games left in the schedule. Gilas is hosting the window so it’s added stress to win before the home crowd. But it’s also a perfect opportunity to drop the axe on Jordan this Friday and Iran on Sunday at the MOA Arena with the fans serving as the Sixth Man.

Coach Tim Cone realizes the sense of urgency. He deviated from his traditional practice of calling a short training pool of up to 15 and named 20. The pool includes players from overseas except that Quentin Millora-Brown and Mike Phillips aren’t available. Aside from QMB and Phillips, the players are Justin Brownlee, Ange Kouame, RJ Abarrientos, Scottie Thompson, JuneMar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Justine Baltazar, Geo Chiu, AJ Edu, Dwight Ramos, Juan Gomez de Liano, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, RR Pogoy, Kevin Quiambao, Troy Rosario, Carl Tamayo and Kai Sotto. Brownlee and Kouame are also unavailable so Gilas will be without a naturalized import this window. JB is dealing with health issues and Kouame signed a contract to play in France.

Jordan and Iran are expected to show up with guns blazing. They’ve racked up identical 5-1 records while the Philippines shares the bottom of their second round group with Syria at 2-4 each. Australia tops the bracket at 6-0 and New Zealand is fourth at 4-2. In the other group, Lebanon is first at 5-1 then Japan and Qatar are tied at 4-2 each. Saudi Arabia, South Korea and China are even at 3-3. Eight of the 12 teams will qualify for the FIBA World Cup in Qatar on Aug. 27-Sept. 12 next year, meaning four will be left out. The Philippines has played in the last three World Cups starting in 2014 in Spain then 2019 in China and 2023 in Manila. It’s a streak that Gilas hopes to preserve. Before qualifying in 2014, the Philippines hadn’t seen action in the World Cup since hosting the event in 1978.

Host Qatar is automatically entered in the coming World Cup with the teams posting the seven best records in the Asia qualifiers to join the conclave. At the moment, the squads with the best seven records (excluding Qatar) are Australia, Iran, Jordan, New Zealand, Lebanon, Japan and Saudi Arabia (highest quotient over South Korea and China). The Philippines is out of the picture and needs to pick up wins in its next six games to crack the Magic Seven. In the fifth window, Gilas plays Syria on Nov. 27 and Iran on Nov. 30 and in the sixth, it’s Jordan on Feb. 25 and Syria on Feb. 28. The fourth window is critical to get Gilas off to a winning surge.