The Powerade-Team Pilipinas realized from the William R. Jones Cup experience that it has a lot of work to do. And the Nationals have 10 days to get the job done or else the country’s bid of returning to world basketball radar has to be sidelined anew. The sixth-place finish in the Jones Cup opened the eyes of head coach Yeng Guiao and the Nationals that the Tianjin meet would be like climbing the Great Wall of China on bare feet. “We have 10 days left to make all the necessary adjustments, both on offense and defense, and we have to do it in the period given to us,” said Guiao, on whose laps lie the tough task to lead the team to a possible stint in the International Basketball Federation (Fiba)-Asia World Championship in Turkey next year. “The Jones Cup is a good experience because we had the chance to play in that kind of level which we think na magiging mas mataas pa come the Fiba-Asia in Tianjin. Now, it’s time for us to do the adjustment,” he added. The Filipinos had only two wins to show in eight outings, and two of those losses came from South Korea and Japan, two teams that are bracketed with the Philippines in the Tianjin tournament. The Nationals bowed to the Koreans, 80-83, and to the Japanese, 85-87, in games that the Philippine squad had a chance of winning. The team’s two wins were against Kazakhstan (85-67) and Taiwan-B (94-90). Iran, the defending champion in the Fiba-Asia, won the Jones Cup crown. The Philippine team returned on Monday and immediately plunged back to practice on Tuesday. It will be facing Lebanon in an exhibition game at The Arena in San Juan anytime this week or before the team departs for Tianjin early next week. For Guiao, the areas of concerned are the health status of his players, particularly Jayjay Helterbrand (hamstring) and Mick Pennisi (back), as well as on quickness, defense and outside shooting, which were terribly missing in Taipei. “In order to beat the taller teams, kailangan pumutok ang outside shooting ng team,” said Guiao after the team’s 60-85 loss to the Iranians at the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday. “We’ve seen here different styles of game. The Middle East teams have the size advantage, while the Koreans, the Japanese and Chinese are quick and they have good perimeter games. We just need to double our efforts pagdating sa Tianjin,” he added. The Fiba-Asia tournament starts on August 6. The Philippines has a favorable schedule because it will face lowly Sri Lanka first, then Japan and South Korea in the Group A preliminary round. The top three teams in Group A merge with the top three teams in Group B, composed of Iran, Kuwait, Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan. They will play each other again with their records from the preliminaries being carried over. The top four teams in the combined Groups A and B will advance to the knockout quarterfinal round and face the top four squads in the combined Groups C and D. Host China leads Group C, which also includes India, Kazakhstan and Qatar, while Jordan, tipped to challenge Iran and China for the crown in Tianjin, is in Group D along with Indonesia, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. The top three finishers in the Tianjin meet will represent Asia in the World Championship in Istanbul next year. The country last participated in the World Championship in 1978. ----LINE UP FOR FIBA ASIA---- The team will be composed of Jayjay Helterbrand, Willie Miller, Gabe Norwood, Arwind Santos, Jared Dillinger, Cyrus Baguio, Japeth Aguilar, Kerby Raymundo, Sonny Thoss, James Yap, Asi Taulava, and Mick Pennisi FIBA ASIA Schedule (1st Round) Aug 6 (RP vs. Sri Lanka 9AM), Aug 7 (RP vs. Japan 9PM) , Aug 8 (RP vs. Korea 9PM) FIBA ASIA TV Broadcast & Free Live Streaming (August 6-16, 2009) Solar / Basketball TV Channel, CCTV5, Aljazeera, TeamPilipinas.info - RNHalawi.com 
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