Gilas Pilipinas

faces Italy today
By Adrian Stewart Co

The Philippine men’s national basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, kicks off their 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup campaign today, August 31, against Italy at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center in China. Gilas head coach Joseller ‘Yeng’ Guiao called the game their “most important” as it is the one they have the best chance of winning.
“Our chances against Serbia [are] quite lower than our chances against Italy,” he explained. “We focus on the game where we have greater percentage of winning.”
Among those to watch out for on the Italian squad, he pointed to Oklahoma City Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari and forward Luigi Datome, who currently plays for EuroLeague and Turkish Basketball League team Fenerbahçe.
“We were hoping Gallinari and Datome wouldn’t play due to injuries but our scouts saw them play in a tune-up against Serbia already,” Guiao said. “We’re going to have to face a stronger team.”
“More or less, we have familiarized ourselves with what they do, the individual players, and we’re going to reinforce that in the coming days,” he added.
The Gilas roster includes the likes of Andray Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Roger Pogoy, Jeth Troy Rosario, Gabe Norwood, Japeth Aguilar, Kiefer Ravena, Raymond Almazan, Robert Bolick, Jaymar Perez, Paul Lee, and Andy Mark Barroca.
Also drawn alongside the Philippines, Italy, and Serbia in Group D is Angola./ASC, WDJ