Late night game between Gilas, Lebanon set

Gilas coach Tab Baldwin bellows instructions. Photo from Fiba.com

CHANGSHA CITY, China – Gilas Pilipinas shoots for a Final Four berth against Lebanon in the Fiba Asia Championship at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, and coach Tab Baldwin will try to as much as possible simulate all conditions for his Nationals to be accustomed to.

This will be the first time that Baldwin’s charges will be playing at such a late time in the day, and the Team Philippine coach has scheduled practice to be held from 7-9 p.m.

The tournament is now down to its top eight teams with the Filipinos having the smoother road going to the gold medal game compared to the other heavyweights – China, Iran and South Korea – who fell in the same bracket.

Qatar, Japan and Lebanon are the big guns left in the Philippines’ group.