SCENARIO: HOW GILAS PILIPINAS CAN REACH THE OQT SEMIS

GILAS Pilipinas pulled off one of the most memorable victories in Philippine basketball history by stunning Latvia, 89-80, in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday (Thursday early morning Philippine time)

The auspicious start to the campaign put the national team on the cusp of advancing to the semifinals where they will try to move even closer to booking a spot in the Paris Olympics.

Gilas Pilipinas will still have to take care of business in order to make it to the semifinals as where they play Georgia on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. local time (Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Philippine time).

Here are the possible scenarios for Gilas Pilipinas at the end of its contest against Georgia.

Tim Cone is on the verge of history anew as Gilas coach PHOTO: FIBA

GILAS PILIPINAS WIN

For Gilas Pilipinas to reach the semifinals without any complications, it must beat Georgia to finish with a 2-0 win-loss record and earn the top seed in Group A of the Riga OQT.

By taking the No. 1 seed, Gilas will face the No. 2 seed in Group B that is still being contested by Brazil, Montenegro, and Cameroon.

GILAS PILIPINAS LOSS

A loss by Gilas Pilipinas will move them in a tie with Latvia and Georgia with 1-1 win-loss records. Under FIBA rules, the ranking will be determined through a tiebreaker where the first criteria is the point difference between the three teams.

At the moment, Latvia has a +19 point difference by virtue of its 83-55 win over Georgia and its nine-point defeat over the Philippines, essentially capturing one of the two semifinal berths in Group A, and the top seed for the right to play the second-seed in Group B.

On which team takes the last ride for Group A in the semifinals will now be determined by the winning margin of Georgia against the Philippines.

Based on the scenarios, Gilas Pilipinas will still be in the semifinals even if it loses by one to 18 points due to a better point difference over Georgia.

But if Gilas Pilipinas loses by 19 points or more, Georgia will advance to the semifinals.

Entering Thursday’s critical match, Gilas Pilipinas has the better point difference with a +9, while Georgia having a mountain to climb with a -28.

It will still be a tough assignment for Gilas against Georgia, ranked 23 in the world and 14 spots higher than the Philippines. Georgia also has two NBA players in Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic and Alexander Mamukelashvili of the San Antonio Spurs.

Easily put it, Gilas Pilipinas should either win or not lose by a sizable margin in order to advance.

2024-07-03T22:08:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd