Game Wednesday:
(King Abdullah Sports City)
2 a.m. — Philippines vs Chinese Taipei
Gilas Pilipinas takes the first major step towards reclaiming the glory when it battles a dangerous Chinese Taipei squad in the preliminaries of the 33rd FIBA Asia Cup past midnight on Wednesday at the King Abdullah Sports Center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Action is set at 2 a.m. (Manila time) with the Filipinos eager to kick off their campaign on a high note in a bid to end a 40-year drought in the prestigious continental tournament.
Tipping off the first day of hostilities will be New Zealand and Iraq at 4 p.m. followed by the match between Jordan and India at 7 p.m., and the collision between China and the host country, Saudi Arabia, at 11 p.m.
The journey of Gilas Pilipinas to the Asian tourney had never been smooth.
After sweeping the first two windows of the qualifiers, the Filipinos suffered a major blow when 7-foot-3 slotman Kai Sotto crashed with a knee injury in a Japan B.League match last January.
Sotto’s absence was greatly felt as the Filipinos closed their qualifying round campaign with an 84-91 loss to Chinese Taipei on 20 February and a 70-87 setback to New Zealand on 23 February.
But losing Sotto’s imposing presence is only half of the picture.
Gilas also struggled to stay healthy with June Mar Fajardo and Calvin Oftana nursing various injuries that they sustained in the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo huffed and puffed during the training camp as he suffered an injured calf while helping San Miguel Beer secure the Philippine Cup title. Oftana, on the other hand, hurt both his ankles during the playoffs.
In fact, both of them were not around when Gilas pulled off a 103-98 win over the Macau Black Bears in a friendly match last week, a day before leaving for the wealthy kingdom at the heart of the Arabian Peninsula.
At one point, Gilas explored the possibility of replacing them with Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos but the idea was scrapped when both Fajardo and Oftana showed signs of recovery.
Gilas coach Tim Cone admitted that they are still far from being prepared, but they are willing to go all out to make a strong impression against the Taiwanese.
“Well, I’m just looking for a measurement of where we are in terms of preparedness,” Cone said after hammering a 75-61 win over Jordan in their final tune-up match before formally plunging into action.
“I think that’s really the key, just seeing how prepared we are in terms of, and I don’t think we’re there yet, but I think this game will go a long way in terms of helping us get to where we want to get to.”
Cone added that they already did everything they could to be prepared, so it’s now up to the players to execute and bag the first — and very important victory — against the Taiwanese.
“Score won’t matter, it’s really the quality of the play that we have, then we’ll feel better about ourselves going in against Taiwan,” said Cone, whose squad will be banking on naturalized player Justin Brownlee as well as Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, AJ Edu and Chris Newsome.
“We’ve done a lot of work, we’ve watched a lot of video, so we feel we’re prepared in that respect, but actually, walking the talk. We’re doing a lot of talking, but we got to walk it.”
But the Taiwanese are no pushovers as they will parade the Los Angeles-based Hinton brothers — Adam and Robert — in this quadrennial tournament.
The 22-year-old Adam has been a consistent contributor at Cornell University in the Division I of the US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) while the 19-year-old Robert emerged as Ivy League Rookie of the Year for Harvard University after posting 14.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists.
They both suited up for Chinese Taipei in the 44th William Jones Cup, but were beaten by import-laden Strong Group Athletics powered by Andre Roberson and Rhenz Abando, 67-56.
“Taipei beat us the last time we played them. They had two young (NCAA) Division 1 players in the Hinton brothers and those guys are making an impact on that team,” Cone said.
“They (Taiwanese) played six or seven games and they actually dominated the Jones Cup. They lost to Strong. And that’s the only game Taiwan lost.”
Aside from the Hinton brothers, Cone also cited Brandon Gilbeck, former naturalized player Mohammad Al Bachir, and Lin Ting-Chien as the players to watch in their opening-day encounter.
“They definitely have the personnel. It wasn’t a fluke that they beat us. So, we really have to be prepared for them,” Cone added.
“The old saying is that we’ll take it one game at a time at this point and that’s true. And the reason you say that it’s because it’s always true. Right now, what’s on our minds is Taiwan. You have to get through them.”