Game today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

7:30 p.m. — Gilas Pilipinas vs Macau

Gilas Pilipinas gets a chance to measure the level of its cohesion and competitiveness ahead of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in a showdown against visiting Macau Black Bears today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Head coach Tim Cone is taking advantage of the sendoff friendly match set at 7:30 p.m. to give his squad, which was barely complete during its short buildup, a road test before flying to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

The decorated mentor wants to see the quality of Gilas’ game and identify the areas that the squad will need to address heading into the Asia Cup slated from 5 to 17 August.

“We just want to make sure we’re executing on both sides of the ball,” Cone said as Gilas broke camp at the Hustle Fitness Performance in Pampanga on Sunday.

Gilas, however, will be playing sans center June Mar Fajardo and Calvin Oftana to give the two players some more time to recover following a grueling Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals series.

The 12-time PBA Best Player of the Conference Fajardo, who led San Miguel Beer in copping the all-Filipino crown last Friday, is nursing a calf injury he sustained early in the semifinals against Barangay Ginebra.

Oftana, on the other hand, has sprained both his ankles and played through pain in TNT’s failed attempt at a grand slam.

Despite some key absences, Cone will still have a formidable team led by naturalized player Justin Brownlee.

Helping out Brownlee, who has received the green light to suit up for Gilas Pilipinas after FIBA concluded that the presence of Carboxy-THC in his sample from 21 November 2024 does not constitute an Anti-Doping Rule Violation, are Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, Carl Tamayo, AJ Edu, Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario, RJ Abarrientos and Kevin Quiambao.

San Miguel Beer’s CJ Perez will also suit up for Gilas but is expected to get limited minutes following the exhausting 14-game playoffs outing of the Beermen to rule the PBA’s season-ending tournament.

Cone sees a tough friendly for Gilas as the Black Bears are no easy team.

“They (Macau) played against the Chinese national team and defeated them. So, they’re going to be a tough team,” he said.

Macau is also parading former University of the Philippines center Quentin Millora-Brown.

The Filipino-American Black Bear import had an impressive debut of 20 points and 17 rebounds in their 121-105 victory over the Aces in The Asian Tournament in China last Tuesday.

“We need tough teams to play against before we leave. We want to play in front of the fans because we want the players to have that feeling of how important it is to play for them,” Cone added.

Gilas will have another tuneup match against Jordan on Sunday before plunging into Asia Cup action.

The opening salvo for the Filipinos in Group D will be against Chinese Taipei on 6 August at the King Abdullah Sports City, a crucial encounter to set the tone for their campaign.

Two days later, the formidable Kiwis await, a perennial powerhouse that will undoubtedly test Gilas’ mettle.

The group stage concludes on August 10 against Iraq, a team that Gilas will look to dominate to secure a strong position.

The top three teams in each of the groups will advance into the next round with the top squad earning an outright quarterfinals seat. The second and third rank teams will battle in the knockout playoffs for a place in the Last 8.