THE war is not yet over but after sweeping its games in group play, there’s no question that the confidence level of Gilas Pilipinas is sky high, entering the playoffs of the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon.
If stunning defending champion China in its opening assignment wasn’t enough, the Philippines kept its foot on the gas pedal and crushed two more powerhouse teams to finish the classification round with a bang on its way to topping Group B.
Gilas Pilipinas will now carry its momentum and confidence all the way to the quarterfinals, where it is expected to face a tough challenge.
Moving forward, the Philippines will now have to play its best basketball to solidify a run towards the championship.
It will now await the winner between Japan and Korea in a knockout playoff to see who it faces. Either way, it will be an obstacle to overcome for the Nationals.
As the team plays the waiting game, it is currently enjoying a two-day break. It will play its knockout quarterfinal game at 2 a.m. (Manila time) on Thursday.
Should it continue rolling, Gilas Pilipinas should expect either powerhouse Iran, Lebanon or Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.
After its 96-87 stunner over China, the Nationals followed that up with an 84-68 demolition job of Iraq.
Finally, the Philippines wrapped up its elimination round play last Sunday with an 80-74 victory over Qatar to top Group B with its 3-0 card and automatically move to the knockout quarterfinals.
Matthew Wright shone the brightest in that Qatar game, finishing with a game-high 25 points.
Aside from him, Terrence Romeo and Christian Standhardinger also led in the fight along with Jayson Castro, Japeth Aguilar and Raymund Almazan, thus far.
Coach Chot Reyes, however, told the boys that he wasn’t satisfied with how the team played.
“You all know that if we had played Korea or Japan tonight, we would have been heading home,” he said in the post-game huddle. “No way we’ll win like that. Seventeen turnovers. We shot less than 40% from the field. We couldn’t stop [Mansour Elhadary].”
The Qatari guard paced his team with 23 points while shooting an efficient 10-for-15 from the field. He also finished with six assists and three steals. Abdulrahman Saad helped out with a double-double of 18 points and 11 boards.
After the game, the Filipino fans hosted a dinner for Gilas Pilipinas. They celebrated with their heroes, bonding and taking selfies with their idols over the meal.