CHRIS Newsome knows the Jordan national team has a huge score to settle against Gilas Pilipinas.
Having defeated the Middle East country in the gold medal match of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, the veteran Fil-Am guard believes the loss serves as motivating factor going to their Friday clash in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian qualifiers.
Newsome was part of that Philippine team which scored a 70-60 win over a Rondae Hollis-Jefferson-anchored Jordan side during the championship game that ended the country’s long, 61-year-old gold drought in the quadrennial meet.
And the Meralco guard, who was named as part of the Gilas’ final 12-man roster to start the fourth window, said the Filipinos better be ready for Jordan’s wrath.
READ: Kai, Dwight, Scottie banner Brownlee-less Gilas vs Jordan
“Me and Scottie [Thompson] played against them in the Asian Games, and I think they still remember that,” he said. “And they’re gonna do their best to upset us here.”
Of that gold medal-winning Philippine team, returning for another tour of duty for the qualifiers aside from Newsome and Thompson are CJ Perez and the retiring June Mar Fajardo.
Hollis-Jefferson won’t be around, so is Justin Brownlee for the Filipinos – both naturalized players dealing with their respective health issues.
Nonetheless, Newsome said Jordan is bringing a team far different from the one that finished runner-up behind Gilas.
“But this is going to be a completely new team though,” the Ateneo product pointed out. “I think there’s only about three players who were on that Jordan team that we played against.”
Jordan's plans
For the record, at least five have been listed as part of the Jordanian pool for this window who were part of the unit that got silver in Hangzhou; namely Freddy Ibrahim, Ahmad Al Dwairi, Hashem Abbas, Malek Kanaan, and Ahmad Al-Hamarsheh.
Still, Newsome said he expects Jordan to go hard against the home team Philippines.
“That same hunger is going to be there for them especially coming to the Philippines,” he said.
Newsome, though, added the Filipinos are ready, especially with their highly-touted ‘sixth man’ expected to come in droves at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Everyone knows the crowd that we’ll bring, the energy that we’re gonna bring,” the Bolts stalwart said.
“So for us, it’s just going to be the same focus on the task at hand regarding on who we play, whoever is in their (Jordan) lineup. We just want to go out there and play hard to compete.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
