Time for the real thing.
After two easy wins that were practically round robins, Team Philippines braces up for the knockout stages of the fourth Fiba-Asia Cup, with either Qatar or Chinese-Taipei as a quarterfinal foe.
The Filipinos ripped Uzbekistan, 85-50 on Sunday, before returning to the Ota Gym less than 24 hours later to deal Macau a 98-46 beating and seal second-seeding in Group A, hence, the second-lightest quarterfinal assignment.
Marcus Douthit was able to rest against Macau, watching from the bench as the others held the enemy to just 13 second half points, five in the final period, for a 3-1 card.
The Philippines’ only loss came at the hands of China, 68-71 on Friday, but the Chinese will miss bagging top spot after bowing to Lebanon, 89-69, late Sunday, a lopsided loss that would drop them to No. 3 in Group A.
“The challenge right now is how to keep the boys sharp because of the two-day break that we will have,” Philippine coach Chot Reyes said.
“It’s a pity, because we have been shooting well in our last two games,” he added after his gang had drained a total of 17 triples in the last two games, compared to four in the first two.
“We have to be able to retain our sharpness even with the break,” continued the firebrand mentor. “It gets tougher from hereon.” Chinese-Taipei and Qatar will be disputing the No. 3 spot in Group B on Tuesday night for the right to play the Philippines. The loser of that game will clash with Lebanon and the returning Fadi El-Khatib in the quarterfinals.
Jeff Chan drained eight total treys in the last two games for the Filipinos even as Gary David has also found his range.
Jared Dillinger also finished in twin digits in each of those two games, and will be a vital cog for Reyes, especially on the defensive end where he will try to shadow the big guns of the opponents.
Reyes called for a hard, one-hour practice after the game against Macau to be able to give his boys the dayoff on Tuesday.
“I can’t really say who we want to play in the quarterfinals because all the teams in the other group are practically evenly matched,” Reyes said.
The Nationals defeated the Taiwanese by a narrow margin in the Jones Cup in Taipei.
Philippines warms up for quarters with rout of Macau
