Game on Monday
(Aichi International Arena)
Noon – China vs Philippines (Manila Time)
AN OPPONENT plotting revenge is the most dangerous one.
And so Gilas Pilipinas braces for a hell of a showdown with China — a side it embarrassed on Chinese soil in 2023 on its way to gold in the previous Asian Games (Asiad) — as they wrap up Group C preliminaries in the 20th Asiad in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday.
“We know we have an uphill climb but we’re undaunted by it, we’re not afraid of it. We’re going to meet it head on and see what we can do,” said Gilas coach Tim Cone of the great wall the Nationals face at noon (Manila time) at the Aichi International Arena.
“We’re the underdogs but we’re going to give them a crack at it,” Gilas forward Zav Lucero said in an interview on Cignal.
More than the vengeance factor that stems from the Philippines’ 77-76 comeback victory from 20 down in the semifinals of the previous Asiad in Hangzhou, the unbeaten Chinese, with their stacked lineup, are already a handful for Mr. Cone’s troops.
Leading Team Dragon are giants 7-foot-3 Yu Jiahao, 6-foot-11 Hu Jinqiu, 6-foot-10 Jiao Boqiao and 6-foot-9 Zhao Jiayi and captain Hu Mingxuan.
“We know they have great size and they have great guard play and they are going to pose a lot of defensive problems. They play a really good inside-outside game,” said Mr. Cone of China, which ripped Kazakhstan (99-61) and Bahrain (105-59) to shreds prior to this “grudge” match.
“But we feel we can get out there and make stops against them and try to control the rebounds and then go out and do what we do and hopefully our guys show up and make shots.”
Mr. Cone’s charges had shown a glimpse of this shoot making in their 109-78 rout of Kazakhstan on Saturday, when Jerrick Ahanmisi and Robert Bolick spearheaded a 16-triple explosion.
That 31-point romp — a big bounceback to their fumbling 65-69 opening performance against Bahrain — greatly boosted the Nationals’ quest for the quarterfinals.
With three points on a 1-1 record and a +27-point differential (PD), the Philippines has placed itself in prime position in the race for the last-8 berths to be awarded to the two best third placers. With two playdates remaining, the Filipinos are first among the teams sitting at third spot, ahead of Group B’s Iran (-3 PD) and Group A’s Saudi Arabia (-22 PD).
China, with four points, and Bahrain, with three markers, held the Top 2 positions in Group C.
“Coming off the Bahrain loss and knowing we have China ahead of us, we’re concerned about that Top 2 third-place position. Every point becomes important, the quotients become important so we didn’t want to take our foot off the pedal (in the game against winless Kazakhstan),” said Mr. Cone. — Olmin Leyba