MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas is in high spirits heading into their opening game against world’s no. 16 Croatia in the 2014 FIBA World Cup at 6 pm Saturday night (Manila time) in Seville, Spain as Jayson Castro has been cleared to play.
Castro, whom Gilas coach Chot Reyes has acknowledged to be the team’s top “breakdown” player owing to his uncanny speed and basketball IQ, had a good practice with the team Friday.
“He’s been practicing well. Okay naman siya (Jayson) kanina,” Gilas team manager Aboy Castro told Philstar.com on the eve of their opening match against the European powerhouse.
The Gilas top playmaker sat out their last three tuneup games against Angola, Egypt and Dominican Republic while recovering from an Achilles injury that threatened his participation in world championship.
Castro is expected to be the catalyst of the Gilas’ dribble drive offense along with Paul Lee and Jimmy Alapag as the shorter Filipinos will try to cut the tall Croatians down to size.
Croatia qualified for the world championship after placing fourth in the EuroBasket. The Croatians are relatively younger with an average age of 26 years old and taller with an average height of 6’8” compared to Gilas, whose average age is 30 years old and 6’3” in height.
But in terms of world-class level of competition, the Croatians are considered the heavy favorites in this match.
Croatia has managed to bring back the core of the team that placed 16th in the 2010 FIBA World Cup and will bank on that experience and the development of its young guns anchored on 6-7 shooting guard Bojan Bogdanovic to make run this year.
Bognadovic was recently signed by the Brooklyn Nets after making it to last year’s Eurobasket Mythical Five with the third-best scoring average of 17.4 points per game.
Bogdanovic, 25, will draw support from 7-2 center Ante Tomic Tomic (Utah second round, 2008) and the other NBA draft picks in the roster such as 6-9 Dario Saric (Orlando first round, 2014), 6-5 Roko Leni Ukic (Toronto second round, 2005) and 6-10 Damir Markota (San Antonio second round, 2006). Add to the mix the 6-8 Damjan Rudez, who went undrafted in the NBA but recently inked by the Indiana Pacers, and their naturalized player Oliver Lafayette, a 6-2 point guard, who has played as an import all over Europe and Latin America after a brief stint with the Boston Celtics in the 2009-10 season.
If there’s one thing that gives Gilas a fighting chance is the fact that Croatia has struggled to round into form in their tuneup games losing three out of five.
They lost to France by 10, 71-81, whereas Gilas led the French national team three-fourths of the way before dropping a close 68-75 loss in their own tuneup game.
Croatia also lost to Serbia, 83-84, and host Spain, 64-82, while winning over Greece, 68-66, and Lithuania, 94-80.
The Gilas Pilipinas vs Croatia match will be aired live on TV5 at 6pm Saturday night.