Gilas Pilipinas' road to Asian basketball summit, explained

MANILA, Philippines — Next week, Gilas Pilipinas will be battling it out with the best of the best in Asia in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

The 12-man Gilas squad will try to reign supreme in the regional tournament for the first time since 1985. 

That year, the Samboy Lim and Allan Caidic-led Philippine delegation hoisted the championship trophy in Kuala Lumpur after defeating South Korea. 

Now, 40 years later, the Philippines will try to win the title anew, with Gilas head coach Tim Cone saying the team’s goal is the gold medal.

“Well, I'll say it again. Our goal is to win a gold medal. I mean, that's our goal. We're gonna go out there to try to win a gold medal,” Cone told reporters after the Nationals’ 103-98 win over the Macau Black Bears in the send-off tuneup Monday. 

In 2013 and 2015, the Philippines finished with the silver medal in the tourney, but in the past two editions, Australia has won the title.

With Cone, who led the Philippines to numerous historic wins since taking over in 2023, Gilas will try to stop the Aussie run. 

But the Nationals have to go through a long and arduous road to get there. 

What will the World No. 34 Philippines' path to glory be? How hard will the journey be? Will the team have a shot at the gold? 

Prelims

With the gold medal as their ultimate goal, Cone stressed that their focus remains on taking it one game at a time. He underscored that the team could not look too far ahead as they have to lock in on what is in front of them.

So what lies ahead for them? 

Gilas is in Group D of the preliminary phase. They are grouped with Chinese Taipei, New Zealand and Iraq. 

The Philippines will start the group phase against World no. 73 Chinese Taipei, which upset the Philippines back in February during the Asia Cup qualifiers. The two will battle it out on Wednesday, August 6, at 2 a.m. (Manila time).

The next game will be on Thursday, August 7, 11 p.m. (Manila time) against World No. 22 New Zealand. The Philippines, last year, stunned New Zealand in the Asia Cup qualifiers, the first time the former defeated the latter in four matchups.

But the Tall Blacks, in February, exacted revenge against their tormentors in the next round of the qualifiers.

Gilas will then finish the group stages against World No. 92 Iraq on Saturday, 4 p.m. 

Final phase

Now, the easiest way to the quarterfinals for Gilas will be if they finish on top of the group.

According to FIBA, the top team of each group will head to the quarterfinals, where they will wait for their opponents.

The second- and third-placed teams of each group will then head to the qualification round for the quarterfinals.

For Gilas and the rest of the Group D teams, the top squad will take on the winner of the qualification match between the second-placed team of Group B and the third-placed team of Group A. 

That means the top team of Group D will either face Group A teams Qatar, Australia, South Korea and Lebanon; or Group B teams Guam, Japan, Syria and Iran.

If ever Gilas finishes second or third in the group, they will play either the second or third team of Group C. Group C is composed of China, Jordan, Indonesia or home team Saudi Arabia.

If Gilas finishes second in the group phase, they will go against the third-placed team of Group C. If they finish third, they will challenge the second-placed team of the same group.

If ever they win and punch a ticket to the quarterfinals, depending on their group standings, the Filipinos will be pitted against either the top seed of Group A or the top seed of Group B.

A win in the quarterfinals will then send Gilas to the semifinals, while a loss will result in elimination from the tourney.

The worst-case scenario for any team is if it finishes last in the group standings as it will lead to outright elimination.

After a one-day rest day, the semifinals will continue. The winners in the semifinal matches will battle each other in the final, while the losers will duke it out for the bronze medal.

The winner of the final will be crowned the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup champions and will hold the distinction for four years, until the next edition in 2029.

The Philippines is second among the countries competing in the tournament in the number of gold medals, behind China. The country has won five gold medals – 1960, 1963, 1967, 1973 and 1985.

Will Cone and the Gilas 12 — composed of Kevin Quiambao, Chris Newsome, Jamie Malonzo, Dwight Ramos, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, AJ Edu, Scottie Thompson, Justin Brownlee, CJ Perez, Carl Tamayo and Calvin Oftana — finally break the country’s 40-year championship drought in the Asian meet?

That remains to be seen.