THE Philippines will battle Taiwan in one of the four knockout matches today in the quarterfinal of the 26th FIBA-Asia men’s basketball championship at the Wuhan Gymnasium in Wuhan, China.
Smart Gilas Pilipinas is currently at No. 2 in Group F after posting a 4-1 win-loss log in the double round elimination. The Philippines absorbed its only loss from host China.
Smart Gilas Pilipinas Serbian coach Rajko Toroman is engaging the Taiwanese with extreme caution, “If their outside players started to shoot the ball well, we’ll be in trouble,” he warns.
Toroman is exercising prudence despite the Philippine squad’s previous victories over the
Taiwanese. In the history of the tournament, the Philippines (now, No. 53 in Asia) had beaten Taiwan twice – in 1960 and 1963. In this year’s Jones Cup basketball tournament, Smart Gilas Pilipinas also thrashed the Taiwanese two times.
It’s imminent that Toroman would be banking on guard Marcio Lassiter for defense and offense, “It’s good that we’ll be well rested going to the game. I definitely look forward to that,” said the 23-year-old Lassiter.
The Philippines vs. Taiwan quarterfinal match today is set at 6:00 p.m.
