Gilas Pilipinas vs. Palestine: Time, Live Stream for 2015 FIBA Asia Championship
Gilas Pilipinas' push to make their first Olympic Games since 1972 begins now. The Philippines open the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship on Wednesday against Palestine (11:45 p.m. ET/Tuesday, Sports 5) as the veteran-laden bunch looks to start group play strongly.
As noted by InterAksyon.com, Gilas are the oldest team competing in the Olympic qualifier. Their roster has an average age of 31, with 42-year-old Asi Taulava also serving as the oldest player in the event overall. Dondon Hontiveros is the tournament's second-oldest player at 38. Seven of the team's 12 players are at least 30.
That experience level has Gilas confident they can make a deep run in China.
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"(The Filipino fans) can expect that they will be represented well," coach Tab Baldwin said, per Inquirer.net. "They can expect they will be proud of us because of the effort that we’ll give, and God-willing we’ll get the result along with that. We’ll not let anybody down on how much we want this, how much we work and how much we want to win the gold medal."
Of course, there is one glaring absence from the Philippines roster. Some expected Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson to be added to the roster, but he was left out due to scheduling conflicts. With the FIBA Asia Championship lasting until Oct. 3 and the Lakers due for training camp by Sept. 28, Clarkson would have been forced to leave Gilas midway through the event.
As noted by Lakers public relations vice president John Black (via CBSLA.com):
"Per the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association, as long as national team play does not interfere with team requirements and there are no injury issues, it is up to the players whether or not to play. Our players must be in Los Angeles on Sept. 28, so as long as he would be back by then, we would have no objection to Jordan playing in the event up until that date.
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Clarkson would have been instantly the Philippines' best player and the team's only NBA player. Former NBA big man Andray Blatche, who last played for the Nets in 2013-14, will instead take that starring role. Blatche has become something of a phenomenon in the Philippines since becoming a naturalized citizen in 2014. He has been a double-double machine in international competition, following suit with a strong run in the Chinese Basketball Association last season.
It's safe to say Blatche will have a number of supporters in the audience for this tournament.
"Andray is finally plunging into action in Asian basketball. We’ll see if anybody can stop him,” said Ranidel de Ocampo, per Nelson Beltran of PhilStar.com.
Blatche has been working his way back into game shape after a brief layoff to deal with the death of his uncle. He missed most of the Jones Cup while back in the States and has been getting his reps up ever since returning.
As for Palestine, it is among the youngest teams in the tournament. No player on the roster is older than 29, and the team is largely comprised of players getting their first real shot at international glory. Not that Palestine is a total pushover. Qualifying for the event alone involved taking down Iran and Syria, quite the leap given Palestine's lack of international clout.
Sani Sakakini has been the unquestioned superstar, turning in double-double after double-double while acting as the team's focal point. He combined for 74 points and 38 rebounds in the wins over Iran and Syria in the qualifiers.
"It was a great, great feeling to help my country do this, especially something the national team isn't used to," Sakakini said to FIBA.com. "The national team for years used to just go and play games and lose by 40 points but now, it’s different."
With Blatche and Sakakini likely to spend most of the game going head-to-head, this game might have the best individual battle of Group B. Philippines' overall talent advantage still should win out, but this game may wind up being closer than expected.
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