Gilas battles French five

Gilas Pilipinas clashes with France and its four NBA veterans at the start  of the Antibes International Basketball Championship Friday (Saturday in Manila) at Azur Arena in Antibes, France.

The game is the first of three that the Filipinos have lined up in the same number of days in this pocket tournament as they prime up for the Fiba World Cup set to start on Aug,. 29 in Spain.

France will be without its foremost star, San Antonio superstar Tony Parker, for the game. But the wily point guard will be leading the French in Spain, where they are bracketed with Spain, Iran, Brazil, Serbia and Egypt in Group A.

But even without their vaunted playmaker, the French are still super strong with the presence of Portland forward Nicholas Batum, Indiana reserve center Ian Mahinmi, former Toronto point guard Nando de Colo and San Antonio’s Boris Diaw.

After the French, the Filipinos will face Australia on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) before winding up against the Ukraine the following day.

Reyes had released his Asian Games lineup, the one that shoots for the gold in Incheon, South Korea, later next month as he dropped Jimmy Alapag and Marcus Douthit together with Larry Fonacier, who begged off.

In their places are Paul Lee, Andray Blatche and Jared Dillinger, respectively.