Gilas fight for pride

Iran is a strong team. They’re tall and we’ve been having problems with that here

Gilas Pilipinas seeks to put its embarrassing performance behind when it clashes with old rival Iran in the classification phase of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Basketball World Cup at the Wukesong Sports Arena in Beijing.

The Filipinos are tipped to go all out in their 8 p.m. battle with the Iranians in a bid to salvage some measure of pride following a very embarrassing performance in this 32-nation tournament.

Gilas opened its campaign with a 46-point loss to Italy followed by a record-setting 59-point defeat to Serbia that prompted Serbian mentor Sasa Djordjevic to note that the Filipinas do not have the “quality” needed to compete in the world stage.

The Nationals were hoping to win in their final assignment in the first round, but Angola shocked them with an 84-81 win, sending them to the classification phase crushed and badly beaten.

Against Tunisia — a team that is 20 notches below them — the Filipinos simply gave up and kissed their chances for an outright Olympic berth goodbye.

Naturalized player Andray Blatche delivered his usual numbers of 24 points and 11 rebounds, but the local crew bannered by June Mar Fajardo, Kiefer Ravena, Robert Bolick and CJ Perez were all quiet in their 67-86 setback.

Troy Rosario topscored the locals with eight points and six rebounds while Mark Barroca added seven markers for the Nationals, who drew only six points each from Perez and Fajardo.

Omar Abada, meanwhile, knocked down 16 points while Dallas Mavericks slotman Salah Mejri finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Tunisians, who posted a 27-10 lead in the first period to break the game wide open.

Head coach Yeng Guiao said these series of unfortunate results is motivating them to go all out against Iran, a foe they have yet to beat for the past four years.

The last time the Filipinos beat the Iranians was during the FIBA Asia Men’s Championship in 2015 in Changsha, China with Tab Baldwin as head coach.

Hamed Haddadi, a 7-foot-2 slotman who has a feathery touch from the outside, remains at the helm while Sahmad Nikhah Bahrami, Aaron Geramipoor, Mohammad Jamshidi Jafar Abadi are tipped to provide support for the Iranians, who posted a 71-62 win over Angola in their classification battle that makes it difficult for the Filipinos to gain an outright Olympic slot.

“Iran is a strong team. They’re tall and we’ve been having problems with that here. They’re a really strong team as they brought their superstars and their next generation players,” said Guiao, who is banking on their familiarity with the Asian supremo.

“With Haddadi, it’s important to draw his defense out because when he’s in the middle, he’s too intimidating. We practiced a scheme and hopefully it works out,” he added. “We’re also hoping that we finally get a break with our shots from the outside.”

The Iranians have a slight advantage over the Filipinos after posting an average of 71 points, 35 rebounds and 16.3 assists while Gilas Pilipinas tallied norms of 70 points, 34.3 rebounds and 13.3 assists in the three-game group stage.