The 2014 FIBA World Cup commenced on August 30 and in the next few days will reveal the top countries that will move on to the next round.
Greece is No. 5 in the FIBA world rankings but belongs in the same group as the favorite, Argentina. Greece faced the Philippine basketball team on Saturday and won 82-70. The final score was very close to a prediction in an article by Bleacher Report, which expected the results to be 81-68 in favor of Greece.
Although the Philippines was described as among the teams that are just glad to be part of the tournament, it has improved much since its last appearance at the FIBA games in 1978. Gilas Pilipinas finished No. 2 at the Asia Championship in 2013, albeit all the power countries missing in the action. Iran won the overall championship, which is an average team but not expected to do much damage in a tournament such as the FIBA World Cup.
Andray Blatche is the main player for Gilas Pilipinas. The Philippines previously lost against Croatia, which mainly featured Antetokounmpo. The team put up a solid fight with a final score of 78-81 in overtime, according to the Philippine Star. Blatche scored 28 points against Croatia and 21 points against Greece.
Experts say the Philippines only has to win two out of five games to proceed to the next stage of the tournament. According to ABS CBN News, the Philippine team is confident that they can win against Senegal, which team experts described as a younger version of the Qatar team, which they defeated in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. Senegal is ranked No. 37, the lowest in Group B where Philippines belongs. Senegal's last appearance in the FIBA World Cup was in 2006.
Although Gilas has very slim chances of winning against No. 3 Argentina, they are hoping that they can turn the odds in their favor against Puerto Rico.
Philippines is slated to play according to the following schedule:
August 30, 2014 (Saturday) at 6:30 p.m.
Gilas Pilipinas vs. Croatia
September 1, 2014 (Monday) at 2:00 a.m.
Gilas Pilipinas vs. Greece
September 1, 2014 (Monday) at 11:30 p.m.
Gilas Pilipinas vs. Argentina
September 3, 2014 (Wednesday) at 7:30 p.m.
Gilas Pilipinas vs. Puerto Rico
September 4, 2014 (Thursday) at 8:00 p.m.
Gilas Pilipinas vs. Senegal
Live streaming is available on WatchESPN.
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