The outcome may hardly affect its standing, but Gilas Pilpinas is still tipped to go all out when it battles Chinese Taipei in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers today at the Taipei Heping Basketball Stadium in Taipei City.

Game time is set at 7 pm today wwith the Nationals leaving no room for complacency to avert a massive disaster that could hamper their march to the next round of this tourney that serves as a gateway to the FIBA World Cup in China next year.

Head coach Chot Reyes formally named his 12-man roster bannered by naturalized player Andray Blatche and seasoned international campaigners Jayson Castro and June Mar Fajardo.

Also surviving the cut are mainstays Gabe Norwood, Japeth Aguilar, Matthew Wright, Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, Jio Jalalon and Calvin Abueva while Terrence Romeo will be making a return from a knee injury that hobbled him in the first two windows of this qualifier.

Gilas Pilipinas is practically playing with nothing to lose after posting a 90-83 win over the Taiwanese in the first window last November that opened the door for the next round, where it will join the qualifiers in Group D composed of Iran, Kazakhstan and Qatar.

On the other hand, Taipei is competing with its neck on the chopping block after losing thrice in its first four matches.

Still, the Filipinos couldn’t afford to be complacent.

Five years ago, a confident Gilas Pilipinas locked horns with Chinese Taipei armed with the homecourt advantage in the group stage of the FIBA Asia Men’s Championship.

The Taiwanese torched the home squad as riflemen Cheng-Ju Lu and Chih-Chieh Lin shot the lights out of Mall of Asia Arena.

Lu and Lin combined for 15 triples to tow the visiting squad to an 84-79 win, leaving thousands of Filipino fans shaking their heads in shock and disbelief.

But that setback became the rallying point of Gilas boys.

They quickly recovered with a 30-point rout of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals before crushing South Korea in the semifinals to capture the victory that sent them to the gold-medal game against mighty Iran and a golden ticket to the FIBA World Championship after a 40-year absence.

More than that, it marked the re-birth of Philippine basketball and created a mental note that the Filipinos can do greater things when the going gets tough.

That’s why Reyes is leaving no stone unturned in coming up with a strong fight.

“They will surely throw everything at us. We have to be ready,” said Reyes.

“This last window is all about improving our position in the next round so we’re not thinking about the fact that we’re already qualified. We’re thinking of moving deeper into the competition.”

“We will try our very best and come home with a victory.”

After Chinese Taipei, Gilas Pilipinas is set to face Australia on Monday at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.