LITMUS TEST: Gilas battles Mustangs in friendly match

Gilas Pilipinas takes its first step to the Paris Olympics when it battles the Taiwan Mustangs in a send-off exhibition match tonight at the Philsports Arena.

Tip off is set at 6 p.m. with Gilas Pilipinas expected to go all out against the Mustangs in a bid to display its readiness for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament that will be held in Riga, Latvia from 2 to 7 July.

Gilas has been locked in training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba City since Friday and is expected to walk into the exhibition match with the same chemistry and cohesiveness that made it successful in the past international tournaments, especially in the 19th Asian Games.

After the friendly match, which will be open free to fans, Gilas will travel to Europe on Tuesday to face the national teams of Turkey and Poland.

From Istanbul, they will travel to Riga to open their OQT campaign against the host country before confronting Georgia the following day.

The Filipinos need to win both matches to advance to the next round, where they will face Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro.

Gilas coach Tim Cone remains focused on the task at hand as he refused to issue a statement. But Gilas team manager, Richard del Rosario stressed that the goal of their four-game Calamba camp is to reacquaint the players to Cone’s system — the Triangle Offense.

In fact, they brought in somebody who knows the system by heart and by mind in Tim Cone, the Far Eastern University mentor who served as Cone’s resident import during the glory years of Alaska in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

“It’s about reacquainting the guys with the system,” said Del Rosario, whose squad was energized by the presence of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio and executive director Erika Dy on Sunday morning.

“Everybody was happy to represent the country and Coach Tim emphasized our mission and that is to win and not just show up.”

And winning should start against the Taiwanese ballclub on Monday.

Gilas is expected to have a rough time against the Mustangs, a team partly-owned by former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Dwight Howard.

Although Howard and other former NBA players like DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook will not be around, the Mustangs are still expected to field a powerhouse lineup sprinkled with some familiar faces.

Former San Miguel Beer star Alex Cabagnot is expected to serve as chief playmaker while former Batang Gilas standout Geo Chui and former PBA journeyman Rashawn McCarthy are expected to help Filipino-American coach Chris Gavina in cracking the codes in Cone’s game plan.

Also part of the Mustang rosters are 7-foot-6 Samuel Deguara, Oscar Lopez Jr., Tevis Robinson, Ray Miller, Kascious Martin, Ben Borja, Carl Snyder, Ethan Chung, Joe Vines, Jeff Yan and Mark Hall.

“We promise to give them our highest level of competitiveness to prepare them for their European tour of games,” Gavina told Daily Tribune in a message.

“Although Dwight, DeMarcus and Quinn Cook will not be around, we’re still honored to be invited and have the chance to test them before they leave for the OQT.”