Gilas Pilipinas has entered the crucial stretch of its preparation before plunging into battle to defend its gold medal in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Head coach Tim Cone and his crew flew to Japan on Monday after a short training camp in South Korea to settle in early in Nagoya ahead of their group stage opening match against Bahrain on Friday.

The all-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Gilas squad remains in high spirits despite a couple of blowout losses against their South Korean counterparts in the Hana Bank Invitational in Suwon City over the weekend. 

Cone believes there’s no reason for pushing the panic button.  

“It'll be more fluid when we get to Asian Games,” he said.  

The decorated mentor and his staff will spend the next three days trying to figure out ways to utilize their strengths and work around the team’s lack of height. 

Team chemistry and shooting, especially from the outside, are some of the concerns Gilas need to address.

The Filipinos got pummeled by Korea, 81-55, on Friday before suffering a 42-69 humiliation on Sunday. Gilas made only eight threes in total in the two friendlies.

Despite lacking size, sans 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, 6-foot-11 AJ Edu and recently retired from the national team June Mar Fajardo, Gilas' undersized big men have been doing their part.

Justine Baltazar, Brandon Bates and Zav Lucero are showing grit securing boards, while spitfire Adrian Nocum has been a reliable scorer and playmaker. 

Despite the struggles, Gilas, which could go down to just an 11-man squad with the uncertainty of naturalized player Justin Brownlee’s availability, is determined to keep the crown on its head.

“I think the best asset of this team, the players, is how receptive they were to what we're trying to do. Because sometimes what we're teaching is not really what they're taught in their own respective teams,” Gilas assistant coach Richard Del Rosario said.