Gilas Pilipinas vs. Japan: Time, Live Stream for 2015 FIBA Asia Championships

So far, so good for Gilas Pilipinas at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship. Since losing its first matchup in a shocker to Palestine during first-round play, Gilas has run off six straight wins heading into its semifinals game against Japan at 11:30 a.m. ET, which is available to stream on Sports5. 

Jayson William and Andray Blatche, who have emerged as potential co-MVPs, led the charge in Thursday's 82-70 win over Lebanon. William scored a game-high 25 points, knocking down five of the Philippines' nine three-pointers and picking up a pair of steals. Blatche continued his torrid run in China with 24 points and 17 rebounds, dominating inside against a Lebanese team that offered more fight than expected.

"We learned a big lesson from Game 1 going into the quarters right now," Gilas center Asi Taulava said, per Marisse Panaligan of GMA News. "I think that was probably a blessing in disguise, what happened to us early against Palestine. That sure as hell pissed everybody off."   

Six victories have fixed any worries in the Philippines about this team—billed by man as the best in the country's history—making a deep run at the FIBA Asias. Two more victories would qualify Gilas for its first Olympics since 1980, which it boycotted amid Cold War tensions. The Philippines has not made an Olympic appearance since 1972.

“Every single person’s goal is Rio. It’s not about going there to play well. It’s going there to bring home the hardware,” Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said before the tournament, per TV5’s Carlo Pamintuan (h/t Nelson Beltran of PhilStar.com).   

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Most of the heavy lifting so far has been done by William and Blatche, who have been among the best individual performers thus far.

William is averaging a team-high 17.4 points, just a hair above Blatche's 17.3 number. Blatche has been the better all-around player, adding 9.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per night. The former NBA forward has become a favorite son in the Philippines since joining the national team and has become an emotional leader against an increasingly hostile Chinese crowd.

“I’m used to that," Blatche said, per InterAksyon.com. "I’ve played on much bigger levels. So the crowd doing all that does nothing to me.”

Defending Blatche will be the biggest problem facing Japan, which used a strong first quarter to get past Qatar. Takatoshi Furukawa scored a team-high 22 points, while Makoto Hiejima (17 points), Kosuke Takeuchi (15 points) and Yuta Tabuse (12 points) were each in double figures. Takeuchi and Hiejima have been Japan's best players for most of the tournament, shooting above 50 percent and keeping the offense afloat as Furukawa struggled.

The Japanese team will hope Furukawa's 22-point breakout Thursday was a sign of things to come. He is shooting only 37 percent for the tournament and had posted four single-digit scoring performances in his first six games. 

Had Furukawa performed well in the first head-to-head matchup between these teams, perhaps the seeding would have been switched for this game. Japan came within seven points of upsetting Gilas in its second-round matchup despite Furukawa making three of 11 shots, including a 1-of-7 mark from three-point range.

A stout Japanese effort held Gilas below 40 percent from the floor, with Blatche offering a double-double but William scoring just 12 points and missing all of his three-point attempts.

It was the worst effort by the Philippines since its opening loss to Palestine, something the team hopes to avoid repeating in the semis.

“Hopefully the same as we’ve been giving recently," Coach Baldwin said to News5’s Chiqui Roa-Puno of what to expect (h/t Mikkel Bolante of InterAksyon.com). "Certainly, a big effort. And that’s really the only thing we can ever promise. To lay our hearts on the line, play for the flag, play for the country, play for all of our family back home."   

If the Philippines can hold on, it'll be one game away from the showdown against China some have been waiting for since the beginning of the tournament. With China facing a difficult matchup with Iran in the semis, the perfect time for an Olympic qualification may have come.