The penultimate step
Gilas Pilipinas’ path to the Paris Games goes through Brazil, a nation steep with a glorious Olympic past and one that seems to have quite an edge on the Filipinos.
Aside from a world No. 12 ranking and a history of dominating the Philippines on the world stage, the Cariocas are littered with a bevy of NBA-tested talents that could easily outshine Gilas’ standouts on paper.
But the Nationals aren’t entering their 8:30 p.m. confrontation on Saturday thinking like cattle being led to the slaughter house.
Thanks to a stunning upset of world No. 6 Latvia and a gutsy stand versus desperate Georgia, Gilas has reached a level of confidence that it has never had in the past.
“We still got so much more to give and so much more that we can do,” Chris Newsome said shortly after a 96-94 loss to Georgia on Thursday that was still enough to safely push the Filipinos into the crossover semifinals.
“We’ve been through a lot. I mean, a lot of people are disappointed with the last World Cup—as am I—[but] it feels good to finally be in this position, finally moving up in the ranks and beating teams that we shouldn’t,” program cornerstone Dwight Ramos said.
The Philippines has been playing with a different kind of zest in Riga, and the team’s stats back it up. Gilas is scoring an average of 91.5 points, which is far superior than of Brazil’s 77.5. The Nationals are also a tad better in rebounding, collaring 39.5 against the Cariocas’ 38.
In full force
Brazil had produced one of the biggest international stars in the game in Oscar Schmidt, considered to be the best scorer the game has seen with close to 50,000 points scored for Brazil and his club team.
The Brazilians don’t have a player like that anymore, but that doesn’t mean that the Cariocas will be easier than the first two teams Gilas has thus far faced.
A win Saturday will set up the Philippines to a Paris Games slot game against the winner of the Latvia-Cameroon tiff.
Gilas is also expected to play at full strength. Though a game-time decision, national coach Tim Cone told the Inquirer that Kai Sotto—who hurt his right rib after getting landed by a Georgian player—is free of fractures.
Though he has made it clear that Gilas is out to win the whole thing, Cone has also cautioned his charges on the perils of thinking too far ahead.
“We were just so euphoric beating Latvia. All of the texts, social media going on in Manila. I think that set the guys back,” he said, referring to the team’s slow start against Georgia.
“If we’re going to continue to look forward like that, I think that’s going to be a problem for us. But we have no doubt,” he went on. “You know, we want to just say what’s right in front of us. We don’t want to look at the end zone.”
