Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Asia home stretch

MANILA, Philippines – The nights of heart attack games in the knockout stages of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship start for Filipinos at 9:30 pm Thursday, October 1 when the Gilas Pilipinas 5 meet Lebanon in the quarterfinals in Changsha, China.

It is a road littered with revenge. If the Philippines hurdles Lebanon, Japan or Qatar will be the next opponent. Qatar had not been expected to advance this far as their training camp only started in early August, but they were whipped into shape and toughened by overtime victories against Kazakhstan and Lebanon.

It took two overtimes for Qatar to vanquish Lebanon, 105-100, in a game where its top scorer Jasmon Jovan Youngblood was held to 19 points and Mohammad Ali Haidar led with 24 points.

Stunned by Palestine, which was booted out of the quarterfinals by Japan, 74-67, the Philippines routed Kuwait and Hong Kong to enter the second round. Only when the Philippines shocked Iran, 87-73, in a victory still being favored by netizens, did the Philippines take the big first step to hushing doubters. 

Lebanon’s road to the quarterfinals was littered with thorns. South Korea won by a 14-point rout and China prevailed by 19 points before Lebanon subdued Jordan, 80-76 to set up the clash with the Philippines. 

Youngblood is the man to watch as the 6-foot-4 guard is FIBA Asia’s fifth best scorer with 19 points a game. Their coach, Veselin Matic, handled Iran and knows the Philippines very clear. Matic was quoted by the Philippine Star as saying that 6-foot-11 Andray Blatche “is a bit out of shape.”

(READ: Facing Gilas Pilipinas – Lebanon)

But this is a Philippine team so different from the first round. The nationals were jolted when Blatche, despite a turned ankle, persevered against Japan when the game seemed to slip past the Philippines. Blatche drew double teams and passed to the open man and Jayson Castro and Calvin Abueva powered the Filipinos, 86-73. 

That game and the Iran conquest showed the Philippines are in the thick of the battle to qualify for Rio 2016. 

The biggest stat improvement is the assist-to-turnover number. It’s 12.5 to 11.7 in the second round from 13.3 turnovers to 12.7 assists in the first round. 

Individually Castro leads with 2.2 assists followed by Gabe Norwood’s 1.7 assists. This pales to Lebanon’s Wael Arakji 3.2.

As a team, the Philippines and Lebanon are tied with 79 but the Philippines has committed less turnovers. 

In scoring, the Philippines relies heavily on Blatche’s 16.2 points a game, the same tally as Castro. This makes them tied for ninth place in individual scoring. In rebounds, Blatche is 12th with 8 boards followed by Calvin Abueva with 6.8 and Ranidel de Ocampo with 6. 

Should the Philippines defeat Lebanon, Japan and Qatar are both tough customers. Qatar is riding on the leadership of Trey Johnson’s the league’s third best scorer with 20.6 points per game, plus momentum. 

But momentum is fleeting. One or two bad plays, half-hearted defense or self-confidence and the tide of battle shifts to the other side. The momentum belongs to the Philippines. For now. – Rappler.com