Gilas Pilipinas pool. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ Smart Sports
National team coach Chot Reyes is confident about Gilas Pilipinas’ chances heading into its Fiba World Cup qualifying matches against Japan and Chinese Taipei later this month.
The Philippines, which is aiming to book a return trip to the World Cup after its historic stint three years ago in Spain, faces Japan on Nov. 24 in Tokyo before hosting Taipei three days later at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I think we have a very good chance against Japan, I think we have a very good chance against Taiwan,” Reyes said during Gilas’ sendoff at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pasig.
But that’s not taking Gilas’ rivals lightly. In fact, Reyes cited several concerns that Gilas will have to deal with.
“The main difficulty in Japan is going to be the weather, it’s going to be cold and they have the advantage of familiarity and crowd support. So those are the things that we’re going to contend with,” Reyes said.
“Secondly, if we decide to put Andray in the lineup, we would essentially have five practices with us before the match. Those are the negatives of the situation.”
Naturalized big man Andray Blatche has yet to join Gilas, though, the former NBA veteran is expected to arrive in Manila late Saturday night.
“The difference is that Chinese Taipei has been together for a much, much, much longer time than this team has. They have played with Quincy David since 2012 so that’s five years already and counting so they are very familiar,” Reyes said.
“Same thing with Japan, Ira Brown is a resident import in the Japanese league.”
Gilas leaves for Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday.