Guiao upbeat vs China five

Jordan Clarkson (Contributed Photo) JAKARTA — With Jordan Clarkson around, the Philippines gains a handsome chance of winning over China in the preliminaries of the men’s basketball competition of the 18th Asian Games.

Head coach Yeng Guiao said the odds of beating China had greatly improved, especially now that a legitimate National Basketball Association (NBA) player in Clarkson is finally on board.

The Philippines made heads turn in its opening match against Kazakhstan.

Using an airtight full-court defense, the quickness of the Filipinos took away the height advantage of the Kazakhs, sending them to a 37-point victory to march into a blockbuster match against China oozing with confidence.

And he hopes to duplicate it against China with Clarkson at the helm.

“As I’ve said, if we are a 100 to one underdog before, maybe now, it’s 100 to 20. Our odds of winning over China have improved,” Guiao told Daily Tribune in its coverage of the Asiad supported by Primehomes.

Guiao presided a training session arranged by the Filipino community here on Saturday.

“But I think the more important thing is that we feel we have a chance to win now. Before we don’t feel it. Now, we already feel that we have a chance to win,” he said.

Beating China is like scaling a mountain, though.

The Chinese have won seven Asian Games gold medals, but it fell to fifth-place in the previous edition in Incheon because it was in a rebuilding stage with superstar Yi Jianlian sitting out.

This year, the Chinese will be marching in full force.

They have two NBA players in Ding Yanyuhang of the Dallas Mavericks and Zhou Qi of the Houston Rockets together with a solid cast of stars from the Chinese basketball league.

Former Olympian Li Nan serves as head coach and is looking to win his third Asian Games gold medal after a victorious stint as a player in the Bangkok (1998) and Doha (2010) editions.

“We admit that they are the favorites,” Guiao said, adding that this powerhouse Chinese roster is the product of its five-year rebuilding program.

“Even if we have Jordan Clarkson, we’re still going to be the underdogs,” Guiao added.

A victory over the Chinese will give the Filipinos the top spot in Group D and will pit them against the second-placer in Group A, which could either be Mongolia or Indonesia in the quarterfinals.

A setback, however, will relegate “Gilastopainters” to the second spot and will face reigning champion South Korea in the knockout round.

“We’re trying to avoid a collision with Korea. That’s why we’re trying to win against China,” Guiao said. “The more important thing is to keep the game close, be aggressive for 40 minutes, try to duplicate the defense that we played against Kazakhstan.”

“And then we’re already doing our homework with the scouting. You must play the teams in the international tournament like you already played them before even if you have not.”