Gilas to face Qatar, Korea, Kazakhstan as Asian Games quarters begin

Can the Philippines still win the Asian Games basketball title despite faltering against Iran, Asia’s best team, in the last quarter?

The Philippines resumes its quest when it faces Qatar, which topped its preliminary group by edging Japan, tomorrow, September 26 at 5:30 pm PH time as the round-robin quarterfinals start. The Qataris parade the 6-5 Khalid Suliman Abdi, their best player. Then the tough showdown against South Korea follows on Saturday (1 pm), to be capped by the encounter against Kazakhstan on Sunday (3 pm). 

The top two teams in the quarterfinal groups will advance to the final. In the other quarterfinal group, Iran, China, Japan and Mongolia, which unexpectedly qualified by trouncing Jordan and losing to South Korea. 

Iran and China, which have young teams, are unbeaten in their preliminary groups and their September 28 showdown may determine the semifinal cast.

(RELATED: Gilas takes a step back with Iran loss)

How many Asian Games have Philippine cage ambitions ended in the quarterfinal? Too many to mention? Against Qatar, the Philippines will be facing a savior of their 2013 Fiba Asia campaign in Manila. Qatar trounced Chinese Taipei, which had stunned the Philippines in its preliminary round match. This fired up the Philippines’ hopes to enter the semifinal where it beat Kazakhstan and South Korea before falling to Iran in the final. 

Against Iran, the Philippines threw away all of the hard defensive work it did to rally from a 12-point deficit in the first quarter. The Philippines was up by seven, 60-53 with 6:35 left in the game before it lost its focus. Excited shouts became loud groans as June Mar Fajardo missed open shots and Mahdi Kamrani led his team back into the contest. 

As LA Tenorio sat on the bench, Kamrani shoved Iran ahead, 61-60 and no one could stop Nikka Bahrami as he gave Iran a 66-63 lead.

Once more the lack of a take-charge guy which was the Philippines undoing against Argentina in the FIBA World returned to haunt them. Already without Jason Castro, skipper Jimmy Alapang, who play so well in Barcelona, failed to get going.  

A play was drawn up for a shooter in the timeout but the three-pointer went to Marcus Douthit, who rarely shoots from that range. All of Douthit’s stout defense against 7-2 Hamed Haddadi vanished after Douthit missed the trey. 

It may have been a no-bearing game but the Philippines left the court with their egos deflated and coach Chot Reyes seething. June Mar Fajardo may be an MVP in the PBA but against Iran he looked out of sorts with a team-high five turnovers, like Gabe Norwood. 

Qatar is coming off a high by slipping past Japan and we are on a low after letting Iran escape. Can the Philippines summon its best form? – Rappler.com