Gilas resumes FIBA World Cup Qualifier campaign
ON-COURT work resumes for Gilas Pilipinas today as it takes on Australia in the second window of group play in the FIBA Asian World Cup Qualifiers in Melbourne.
Currently sporting a 2-0 record in Group B, the Philippine national men’s basketball team looks to stretch its good start when it collides with fellow group leader Australia ( 2- 0) in their scheduled 4:30 p.m. (Manila time) match at the Margaret Court Arena.
Bannering the cause of the Chot Reyescoached team is a pool of 14 players culled mostly from the Philippine Basketball Association. The players are Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, Kevin Alas, And ray Blatche, Jayson Castro, Carl Bryan Cruz, June Mar Fajardo, Jio Jalalon, Allein Maliksi, Gabe Norwood, RR Pogoy, Kiefer Ravena, Abu Tratter and Matthew Wright. The team has yet to name the final 12 players for the Australia game as of this writing but it was said to have been angling for speed for the second window of the qualifiers which will also see the team play here at home on Sunday, Feb. 25, against Japan. “Australia is a very tough team. They may not have their NBA ( National Basketball Association) players but they have assembled a good team that plays well together,” said Mr. Reyes in the lead-up to the second window as he made his assessment of their opponent today.
“We have little advantage over them. If at all it’s our speed but apart from that not much,” he added.
In the first window of play in the qualifiers last November, Gilas struggled with its collective game but still managed to go unblemished, beating fellow group mates Japan and Chinese Taipei, both sporting 0-2 records right now. The Philippines defeated Japan, 77-71, on Nov. 24 in Tokyo before beating Chinese Taipei, 90-83, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum three days later.
Mr. Castro paced the team in its first two assignments with averages of 20 points, 5.5 rebounds and five assists.
Messrs. Fajardo and Wright averaged 11.5 points each while naturalized player and former NBA campaigner Blatche was good for 9.5 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
The Philippines ranked joint sixth on offense in the 16-team field after the first window with an average of 83.5 points on an eighth-best 42% shooting clip.
THE BOOMERS
Australia, meanwhile, defeated Chinese Taipei, 104-66, and Japan, 82-58, in that order, to complete a sweep of its first window assignments.
Power forward Daniel Kickert is leading the team with numbers of 18.5 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Mitchell Creek has been good for 11 points and 7.5 rebounds while point guard Jason Cadee and center Angus Brandt have been chipping in 10.5 and 10 points, respectively.
The Boomers are currently ranked fifth on offense in the tournament with 93 points a game on a high 54.6% marksmanship rate, good for second.
In the Asian Qualifiers, 16 teams have been divided into four groups to determine the top seven teams joining World Cup host China as representatives of Asia/Oceania at the 32-field Basketball World Cup happening in August 2019.
The Philippines-Australia game today can be seen live over ESPN5 and livestream on www.espn5.com.