MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas has neared peak form just a few days before the FIBA World Cup unfolds.

Coach Yeng Guiao said the Philippine crew already hovers at “90%” as the team flies to China on Thursday, August 29, for the global hoops showdown that kicks off in 8 cities starting Saturday, August 31. 

“We’re hoping we can hit 100 by Saturday,” the outspoken tactician told reporters. 

“We’re trying to schedule our peak by that time. Everything we do now is geared towards achieving that peak on Saturday.” 

Gilas will arrive in Guangzhou before heading to Foshan, the host city of Group D teams Italy, Serbia, Angola, and the Philippines in first-round action. 

The Filipinos, though, opted not to look too far ahead and kept their attention solely on their first game against the Italians. 

“We have some materials already on Serbia and Angola, but we don’t want to distract the focus of the players from the Italy game,” Guiao said. 

“There are still no schemes and game plan that we’ve made for both Serbia and Angola. It might just be a distraction at this point because we feel the most important game we will play will be the Italy game.” 

Only the top two teams from each group will advance to the second round, while the bottom two will be relegated to the classification stage. – Rappler.com