First test for Gilas

Gilas opens its defense of the Asian Games gold medal in men’s 5x5 basketball against retooled, reinforced Bahrain at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya this afternoon with the road back to the top looking rough as opponents lurk in ambush.

Only late addition Calvin Oftana remains from the squad that coach Tim Cone steered to the Asian Games title three years ago. The new lineup lacks size with neither Kai Sotto nor AJ Edu available. Hoop data website Eurobasket lists Justine Baltazar at 6-10, Brandon Bates and Zavier Lucero at 6-8, Justin Arana and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser at 6-7 as Gilas’ tallest players but the heights are slightly exaggerated. Cone hopes Gilas’ speed will make up for a diminished ceiling. If Cone has some aces up his sleeve, he’ll need to bring them out right in the first game against Bahrain.

Under the Asian Games’ policy of passports-only for eligibility, Bahrain enlisted four naturalized imports including six-year NBA veteran JaKarr Sampson. The others are 6-11 Elijah Thomas, 6-10 Uros Ilic and 6-7 Austin Ajukwa. Slovenian coach Slobodan Subotic will rely on his four imports to bring down Gilas. In the previous Asiad, the Philippines crushed Bahrain, 89-61. Back from that squad are 5-10 Ali Rashed, 5-10 Mustafa Rashed, 6-3 Mohammad Buallay and 6-1 Ali Jaber. 

Tomorrow night, Gilas returns to action against Kazakhstan, looking to bounce back from an 11th place finish in Hangzhou. Holdovers include 6-8 Robert Pan, 31, 6-10 Vladimir Ivanov, 31, 6-5 Anton Bykov. 37 and 6-3 Rustam Murzagaliyev, 34. Kazakhstan’s only win in the last Asiad was a 59-49 decision over the United Arab Emirates. The losses were to Saudi Arabia by 24, Iran by 26 and Chinese Taipei by 21.

On Monday, it will be against China, out for redemption after losing by one point to Gilas in the last Asiad semifinals before a shocked homecrowd. Hansen Yang, the 7-1 Portland Trail Blazer, is skipping the Asiad and so is 7-1 former Houston Rockets center Zhou Qi. But 6-4 guard Hu Mingxuan, 28, 6-5 former Brooklyn Net Jacky Cui Yongxi, 23 and 6-11 Hu Jinqiu, 28, are back from the last Asian Games to lead the troops. Alongside the remnants are 6-6 Wang Junjie, 27 and 6-4 Liao Sanning, 25. China kicked out coach Sasa Djordjevic after the Hangzhou debacle and Guo Shiqiang is in the saddle with two Spanish assistant coaches Joaquin Ruiz and Angel Sanchez Canete.

The top two finishers of the three groups of four advance to the quarterfinals with the best two third placers. The quarterfinal matches are set on Sept. 16 then the four survivors clash in the semifinals on Sept. 18. The playoff for third and gold medal game will be played on Sept. 20.