ONE can only imagine what’s going through in the minds of Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone and his 11-man squad two days before the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament gets going in Riga.
For Cone, their mission is simple: Beat Latvia and Georgia.
“We’re just trying to get our game right,” Cone said. “We don’t care if we win or we lose, or we’re not going to out-scout them or worry about them.
“We just want to get our game right for Latvia and Georgia. That’s where the scouting comes in,” he added.
The Philippine five kicks off its drive against the world No. 6 host at midnight tomorrow at the Arena Riga.
Cone’s charges close their OQT campaign against Georgia, ranked No. 23, the next day at 8:30 p.m.
The perennial woe of enough time to prepare–or the lack of it–haunted the Filipino cagers anew as they dropped their final tune-up matches.
Gilas suffered a sorry 80-82 defeat to Poland three days back in Sosnowiece, with Cone taking his players to task for showing up without the needed grit.
The Philippines also lost to Tí¼rkiye 73-84 in another scrimmage last Friday in Istanbul.
The Latvians and Crusaders boast of NBA players in their bid to also catch the last trip to Paris.
Six-foot-10 power forward Davis Bertans of the Charlotte Hornets banners Latvia in the absence of big man Kristaps Porzingis of the newly-crowned NBA champion Boston Celtics who underwent a postseason surgery.
Latvia stunned France and Brazil and then dethroned erstwhile defending champion Spain in last year’s World Cup.
The Latvians lost to eventual champion Germany in the quarterfinals but turned back Italy and later Lithuania for a fifth-place finish in their maiden stint in the cage extravaganza.
Georgia will pin its hopes on the NBA pair of Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs’ Alexander Mamukelashvili.
No. 37 Gilas must finish in the top two of its group to reach the crossover semifinals against the top two of Group B, which has No. 12 Brazil, No. 17 Montenegro, and No. 67 Cameroon.
The winners of the crossover semis will clash for the lone slot in the French capital.
