HANGZHOU – This could be a rematch for the ages: Gilas Pilipinas vs Jordan for the 19th Asian Games men’s basketball gold medal.

And Justin Brownlee vs Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for bragging rights as the tournament’s best player.

The 2023-2024 PBA season, meantime, may be four weeks away, but the Gilas-Jordan final should also provide a preview for another great matchup: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel with Brownlee against TNT Tropang Giga with Hollis-Jefferson in the forthcoming Commissioner’s Cup.

However, for now, all roads lead to the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center on Friday, October 6, where the flag-waving hometown crowd will be on hand at 4 p.m. to watch China and Chinese Taipei, upended by two visiting teams, dispute the spoils of war — the bronze medal. Then it gets to choose its pick between the Philippines and Jordan.

The two teams will be equally motivated to claim the glittering hardware.

Jordan has never won the Asian Games title, finishing fourth place twice, including in 1986 in Seoul when it bowed to an all-amateur Philippine team coached by Joe Lipa in the battle for bronze.

So revenge for a long ago slight could be out there somewhere, for the Jordanians.

The Philippines, on the other hand, last ruled Asiad basketball in 1962, at the tail end of an 11-year reign as champions, and when its current coach Tim Cone was only seven years old and still two years away from moving to the Philippines with his parents.

Payback will likewise be on the Nationals’ mind after Jordan beat them in the preliminaries 87-62 and sent them off down a perilous path against Iran in the quarters and China in the semis.

In contrast, Jordan, having secured an outright quarterfinal berth after downing Gilas, breezed past Saudi Arabia in the round of eight and Chinese-Taipei in the Final Four.

But Gilas survived both missions, weathering a massive comeback by the Iranians to win by one, and then completing an epic rally to beat host China, again by one — with Brownlee figuring prominently in the two victories.

While the gut-wrenching squeaker over Iran was magical enough in its essence, the down-the-wire thriller against China took on an almost miraculous state as both games were decided after the oppositions’ best shooters missed dying-second threes.

“This is special,” said Cone, choking on his words. “Twenty-five years ago, China beat me. And, I tell you, to this day that’s the only game where I cried. To come back here and get this victory now is to come full cycle. It’s an emotional time for us and, I think, for everybody.”

Quickly snapping out of the reverie, he added: “But I’m trying to keep an even keel because we got another game, and our goal still is to win the gold.

“We said that from the beginning. I’m not sure we believe we’d get here, but we did say that from the beginning. We also kept saying we want to get back and play Jordan, so we’re back to play them. Now we’ll see what we can do on Saturday.”

Cone went on to gush over Brownlee, who took one unbelievable shot after another from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, most memorable of which was the stop-on-a-dime, step-back three he took in front of China’s bench that cut the lead to 76-74. Then came that mind-boggling pull-up three, falling away against two defenders for the go-ahead basket 77-76 with 23 seconds left.

“Those last two shots were like impossible,” said Cone. “Guys were right on his face, and I thought there’s no way either of those would go in and both of them go…Boom! Boom! And I was like, wow, we have a shot!

“Whew! Those last two shots…they’re unforgettable. People will remember them forever.”

Jordan waltzed into the gold medal game after crushing Chinese-Taipei 90-71 in their Final Four match, with Hollis-Jefferson leading the way with 20 points. (AI/MNM)

TIM Cone, the interim coach of Gilas, is maintaining faith in the four replacements: Chris Ross, CJ Perez, Arvin Tolentino, and Kevin Alas.

The national team is set to depart for Hangzhou, China, where they will commence their pursuit of the gold medal in the 19th Asian Games.

The Philippine team wrapped up their practice on Saturday, September 23, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig, working to integrate Ross and his fellow PBA veterans into the system, despite their recent arrival just last Tuesday.

“We’re sticking with our current roster unless we receive different instructions,” Cone said after the team’s final practice in Manila. “If circumstances change, we’ll make decisions accordingly.”

Any future adjustments will largely hinge on the final decision of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee concerning the eligibility of Calvin Abueva, Moala Tautuaa, Terrence Romeo, and Jason Perkins.

These players were not part of the original 60-man list or the subsequent 37-man list submitted before the deadline.

Ross, Perez, Tolentino, and Alas, together with Marcio Lassiter, who is filling in for the injured Roger Pogoy, participated in Gilas’ sole tune-up game against the Korean club Changwon LG Sakers last Friday.

Gilas held a lead of up to 13 points but saw it slip away in the third quarter. The team ultimately relied on timely baskets from naturalized player Justin Brownlee to secure an 86-81 victory against the Sakers at the Philsports Arena.

Cone acknowledged that the inclusion of Ross and the three other replacements could alter the team’s dynamics, as they lack the size of Abueva, Tautuaa, Perkins, and Romeo. Nonetheless, he remains hopeful that these changes will provide Gilas with a fresh perspective as they aim to perform well and, ideally, put an end to the country’s 61-year gold medal drought in the Asian Games.

It’s worth noting that Cone was the last coach to guide the Philippines to a podium finish, securing a bronze medal for the Philippine Centennial team in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games in Thailand.

In the 2018 edition held in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Philippine team, under coach Yeng Guiao’s leadership, finished in fifth place despite the last-minute addition of NBA star Jordan Clarkson and the core players from Rain or Shine. (ai/mnm)

INTERIM head coach of Gilas Pilipinas, Tim Cone, has announced replacements for four players who have been omitted from the lineup for the upcoming Asian Games scheduled to commence on September 23 in Hangzhou, China.

During a press briefing held on Tuesday alongside officials from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), Cone revealed that Chris Ross, Kevin Alas, Arvin Tolentino, and CJ Perez would step in to replace Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Moala Tautuaa, and Jason Perkins.

Additionally, Marco Lassiter has been added to the team’s roster, while Cone noted that Roger Pogoy would be unavailable due to “serious health reasons.”

Despite calls from netizens urging the Philippines to withdraw from the Asiad, team manager Alfrancis Chua stated that this was not an option.

Chua also mentioned that they would soon release the finalized player list submitted to the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games organizers.

Gilas Pilipinas is coming off an appearance at the FIBA World Cup held in the country, where the national team ended with a disappointing 1-4 win-loss record.

(ai/mnm)