Gilas Pilipinas will be taking on Latvia and Georgia in Group A of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Only the top two will reach the crosssover knockout stage.
Every coach says this in every tournament: "One game at a time."
That has always been the case. For Gilas Pilipinas, it matters now more than ever.
"We always talk about that idea, one game at a time. But never is it more true in this kind of situation, fellas," head coach Tim Cone said during their practice before their first game in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (FIBA OQT) in Riga, Latvia.
He didn't want to talk about it, but Cone had to address the elephant in the room.
Gilas Pilipinas is ranked 37th in the world--most certainly the underdog in Group A against host and world number six Latvia along with world number 23 Georgia.
And just earlier, the hosts demolished a Tornike Shengelia-less Georgia.
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Gilas Pilipinas is next for this Latvian squad, the Cinderella team of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, as they nearly eliminated Germany in the quarterfinals and finished fifth against Lithuania.
The Philippines has never won a game in the 2016 and 2021 editions of the OQT.
"If we don't get this game tomorrow, we can't bring it to the next game," Cone told his players.
"We gotta take this one," he said, motioning towards his left before stepping aside and moving his hands towards the right side, "Then we gotta take this one."
The odds are stacked against Gilas Pilipinas--fielding only 11 players with no Scottie Thompson, AJ Edu, and Jamie Malonzo. They lost two tune-up games against Turkey and Poland too.
So Cone is not sugarcoating things.
"We don't always have control over them. We may lose to a bad referee's call, and we may lose to you [Davis] Bertans hitting a half-court three-point shot at the end of the game," he said, referring to the Latvian star's heartbreaking miss against eventual World Cup champion Germany. "They may come out and just hit every shot--even though we're in their faces--and that may happen."
"That can't affect us going into Georgia, fellas. That can't," he emphasized.
Some fifty days ago, Cone told Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas' Carlo Pamintuan what his measure of success would be like in the FIBA OQT.
It's a harsh tournament with only a single prize, reserved for the winner: the berth to the Olympic Games.
Cone shared what for him would be the measure of success, even if it would just be a consolation.
"For us, I think for us to think that we have any success in this thing is for us to get to the crossover. We've got to kind of go out and be either Latvia, Georgia to really feel like we've we've had success and then we'll see where we go from there. If we can beat one of those two teams, that means we can compete in the crossover. So you never know," he told Pamintuan back in May.
"I keep saying it's not impossible, it's tough, sure it's going to be tough. It always is tough."
Now, they have a bit more urgency after losing to Turkey and Poland--as well as witnessing what Latvia can do against Georgia.
"We're not here to win a game, we're here to win a tournament, okay? We're ready to win the whole thing. So as long as tomorrow does not knock us out... when we allow that first one to affect us into that second one, then we get knocked out," Cone told his team during practice in Riga.
@onesportsphl "WE'RE HERE TO WIN A TOURNAMENT." 🇵🇭 Gilas Pilipinas is ready to go all out on the court as they complete their second day of practice ahead of their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament pool matches against Latvia and Georgia. #OSOnTheSpot #LabanPilipinas #PUSO #FIBAOQT #SportsonTiktok 🎥 Nic Earnshaw
? original sound - OneSportsPHL
Gilas Pilipinas will take on Latvia on July 4, Thursday, 12 a.m. Manila time. They will have less than 24 hours to rest before taking on Georgia at 8:30 p.m., Manila time. These will air on One Sports, One Sports+, RPTV, and Pilipinas Live.
[ALSO READ: FIBA OQT: Gilas Pilipinas schedule, where to watch, and all else you need to know]
(With reports from Carlo Pamintuan/Cignal TV, One Sports)