Gilas to face Kazakhstan at start of knockout rd
Games today (Mall of Asia)
3 p.m. – Iran vs. Jordan
5:45 p.m. – Chinese Taipei vs. China
8:30 p.m. – Philippines vs. Kazakhstan
10:30 p.m. – Korea vs. Qatar
The Gilas Pilipinas will lay it all on the line today as they gun for a spot in the semifinal round when they battle Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals of the 27th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.
But unlike their previous game against Hong Kong, the hosts cannot afford to play lackluster basketball lest their dream of gaining a ticket to the FIBA World Cup in Spain next year will be sent crashing to the ground.
In their last game, the Gilas played horrendously and needed a late surge before beating winless Hong Kong to formalize their top-seed billing in Group E.
But all that would not have been possible without the huge help from Qatar, which did the Nationals a favor by beating Chinese Taipei, which forged a three-way tie at the top after the preliminaries. The Gilas emerged as the top seed as they held a superior quotient.
Though they beat the Kazakhs in a tune-up game before the start of the competition, the Gilas remain wary especially with the presence of naturalized point guard, Jerri Johnson, who carved them up for 17 points in the said game.
The other quarterfinal matches will pit the lone unbeaten team in the tournament, Iran, against Jordan while reigning champions, China, will do battle with Chinese Taipei. Korea faces off with Qatar in today’s concluding quarterfinal battle scheduled at 10:30 p.m.
