Gilas vs Italy, Dominican Republic, Angola
THE teams step up their preparations with the Fiba Basketball World Cup picture became clearer after the draw on Saturday.
The Philippines will battle Italy, Dominican Republic and Angola in Group A.
Serbia is in Group B along with China, South Sudan and Puerto Rico, with games set at the Araneta Coliseum
Team USA heads group C at the MOA Arena, with Greece, Jordan and New Zealand.
Group D, to also play at the MOA Arena, features Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro and Lithuania.
Group E has Germany, Finland, Australia and Japan, with Group F featuring Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia and Venezuela. The two groups will play at the Okinawa Arena in Japan. Indonesia Arena hosts Group G featuring Iran, Spain, Cote D’Ivoire and Brazil, as well as Group H of Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, and France.
Gilas will play Dominican Republic on August 25 at the Philippine Arena to open the Fiba Basketball World Cup. The Nationals also face Dominican Republic on August 27 and Italy on August 29 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Chot’s thoughts
IT will be a tough task for the Philippine basketball team as early as pool play.
Gilas again takes on Italy and Angola in group play, teams the Philippines faced in the preliminaries of the 2019 Fiba Basketball World Cup, along with Serbia. The Philippines went winless then under Yeng Guiao.
Coach Chot Reyes said preparation is key to get better results, noting the rankings of the teams in the group, with the Philippines ahead of Angola by just one spot.
“No. 10, No. 23, No. 41. That’s the best way to describe it. Italy is No. 10 in the world, Dominican is No. 23, and we are basically tied with Angola,” said Reyes.
“Good thing is that now, we have some clarity on who we are playing and what kind of preparation is necessary to be at our best come August.”
“In the end, that’s going to be determined by how well we can prepare, how well we can get together, play together, and how many quality tune-up games before the actual tournament,” Reyes said.
Overseas training for Gilas
COACH Chot Reyes said the Philippine men’s basketball team is set to train abroad ahead of the Fiba Basketball World Cup, but declined to provide details.
Reyes noted that for the 2014 Fiba Basketball World Cup in Spain, the Filipinos had good preparation and went on to score a big win over Senegal and put up solid performances against Croatia, Argentina, Greece, and Puerto Rico.
"In the end, that's going to be determined by how well we'll be prepared. How well we can get together, play together and how many quality tune-up games we can get before the actual World Cup because that's what we were able to do in 2014, right?" Reyes stressed.
"I thought we were able to put in a very good tune up preparation schedule, so when it came—World Cup time—we were playing at a very high level. Hopefully we can get to that level again this time."
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