Gilas Pilipinas will put all the pieces on the road because it squares off with Iraq of their do-or-die encounter on the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on Saturday on the King Abdullah Sports activities Metropolis in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Filipinos and the Iraqis, each winless with equivalent 0-2 playing cards in Group D, will lock horns at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to the playoffs for quarterfinals and the loser bowing out of rivalry.
READ MORE | Can Gilas Pilipinas still advance to the FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals?
Historical past favors the Philippines, however the nationwide crew had solely confronted Iraq twice previously in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments.
Throughout the 2017 Asia Cup in Lebanon, Gilas Pilipinas pulled off an 84-68 win in opposition to Iraq that helped the nation full a formidable 3-0 group stage sweep and advance to the quarterfinals in opposition to its former rival South Korea. The Filipinos finally received booted out after absorbing a 118-86 loss to the Koreans.
Earlier than that, the final time the Philippines confronted an Iraq crew was through the 1948 Summer time Olympics in London. The Philippines likewise defeated Iraq in that conflict, eking out an enormous 103-30 thrashing for a 3-2 slate within the group stage.
For the reason that 2017 duel, the Philippines and Iraq have by no means met on the courtroom once more. However the Filipinos, who rank thirty fourth in world rankings, are underneath no phantasm that Iraq will likely be a pushover come their knockout sport.
“Nicely we’re disenchanted that we did not get that. That we misplaced two in a row. We did not see that, I do not suppose all of us noticed that coming and so we’re disenchanted,” Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone mentioned.
“However the match’s not over for us. We now have a giant sport in opposition to Iraq arising and see if we are able to get into the subsequent spherical.”
Gilas is coming off two quick comeback makes an attempt in opposition to Chinese Taipei and New Zealand with Justin Brownlee carrying the combat in each video games.
In opposition to the Taiwanese, the Filipinos began out flat however received an enormous raise from Kevin Quiambao, Scottie Thomspson, and Dwight Ramos of their second half rampage. Their efforts, although, went for naught as they absorbed a 95-87 defeat.
Gilas had one other sluggish begin in opposition to the Tall Blacks earlier than unleashing a second half blast. Sadly, the fightback wasn’t sufficient anew as New Zealand cruised to a slim 94-86 victory.
Cone admitted they are going to attempt to tackle their sluggish begins and error-plagued campaigns.
“We’re clearly struggling within the first half, we’re not taking part in nicely within the first half however we’re coming again and I assumed we performed a very good second half however we simply could not recover from the hump,” he added.
“Had a few turnovers down the stretch that prevented us from actually making the sport tight. However we simply must preserve battling, preserve our heads going ahead and do not sink due to these final two losses. We will not afford that, there’s nonetheless extra to do and we’ll be prepared for our subsequent sport.”
Iraq, in the meantime, saved it shut early in opposition to New Zealand final Tuesday earlier than dropping steam within the endgame to maintain a 100-78 loss. It then fell to Chinese Taipei with an 87-60 setback, however restricted sharpshooter Ying-Chun Chen to a scoreless outing and massive man Brandon GIlbeck to simply 4 markers.
“Hopefully, we are able to flip that round. We now have to and once more, it is all going to be about psychological, getting unfastened balls, getting unfastened rebounds and never permitting the additional possessions to get three-point pictures up.”
—JKC, GMA Built-in Information
