It's a tall order, but Coach Yeng Guiao has the Gilas men’s basketball team ready to face Italy, which will have their big guns playing when they face the Philippines in the FIBA World Cup 2019 in China at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Arena.
The Italians, who are ranked 13th in the world, will be led by NBA veterans Marco Belinelli and Danilo Gallinari. The Philippines is ranked 31st in the world.
Italy is well scouted by Gilas after playing 12 games in the European qualifiers for the World Cup. The coaches of Team Pilipinas have done their homework and have watched how the Italians play. Guiao hopes this familiarity will be an advantage.
Gilas will be led by veterans Andray Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Paul Lee, Japeth Aguilar, and Gabe Norwood, who were on the Philippine team to the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain.
New additions are Kiefer Ravena, Raymond Almazan, Mark Barroca, Troy Rosario, and Roger Pogoy. PBA rookies CJ Perez and Robert Bolick also made the squad.
The Filipinos are in Group D of the tournament along with the Italians, Angola and powerhouse Serbia, which also boasts of NBA talents in big men Nikola Jokic and Boban Marjanovic and wingmen Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica.
Gallinari, 31, plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 6’10” forward was selected 6th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, and also played for the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 33-year-old Belinelli is a deadly shooter who plays guard for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
Italy’s head coach Meo Sacchetti will also rely on Awudu Abass, Paul Biligha, Luca Vitali and Ariel Filloy. Other members of the squad who can contribute are Luigi Datome, Alessandro Gentile, Jeff Brooks, and Daniel Hackett. Amadeo Della Valle, a shooting guard, also got noticed during the European Qualifiers.
Guiao, the national team mentor, said he likes how Team Pilipinas is preparing for the Italians.
“The mere fact that the players were able to adjust the PBA’s kind of play to the World Cup speaks a lot about them,” he said.
Team Pilipinas went straight to the gym to practice as soon as they arrived in Foshan, China on Thursday night, two days ahead of its first game against Italy.
Guiao has been telling members of the team to just have a good time.
“You just want to enjoy it, you just want to give your best, you just want to savor it, the whole thing, so we’re very lucky. We’re very blessed, actually,” said Guiao.
“I feel that our objective to build momentum, to peak during the game itself, we’re slowly getting there. We’re getting there, actually, not slowly, but we’re getting there.”
After Italy, the Philippines next face Angola, ranked 39th in the world, on Sept. 2, and Serbia, ranked 4th, on Sept. 4.
Over half a century ago, Filipinos won a bronze medal in the 1954 Fiba World Championship, the best finish by any team outside the Americas and Europe. This time, Gilas will be lucky to get two wins and get out of the group stages—but will have the whole basketball-mad country cheering for them still.
