Guiao agrees to let Team Pilipinas face Lebanon in tune-up match

In what could be its final tune up match prior to leaving for Tianjin, China, the Powerade Team Pilipinas meets the Lebanon national team in a close door game at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center at the Ateneo campus.

Coach Yeng Guiao initially turned down a tune up game against the Fadi El Khatib-led Lebanon squad, pointing out it may lead to the opposition scouting the Nationals instead of the other way around.

But with the two teams belonging to the groups in the 25th FIBA-Asia men’s basketball championship, Guiao eventually agreed to play against them.

The RP team has had four meetings to correct major flaws in its game since it returned from a sixth place finish in the 31st William Jones Cup in Taipei and they will have the chance to test-drive their modified version against one of the “Ferraris" in the August 6 to 16 FIBA World qualifying tournament.

The meeting will be the first between the PBA-backed Nationals and Lebanon since the 31st William Jones Cup in Taipei a week ago.

El Khatib finished with only 14 points, but former Louisiana State hotshot Brian Feghali went 5-of-7 from the three-point area to finish with 29 points, while naturalized player Jackson Vroman added 24 as the Lebanese beat the Nationals, 95-83, at the Hsinchuang gym.

As formidable as their frontline already were, the Lebanese, with an eye at beating defending FIBA Asia champion Iran and powerhouse host China, has brought in a Dirk Nowitzki-type of a player in the person of Matt Freijji who dropped 39 points and 14 rebounds in Lebanon’s 97-79 annihilation of South Korea.

“It’s our last chance to see what final fine-tuning has to be done," said national coach Yeng Guiao. “Then, we have two days to make some adjustments."

Guiao believes the setbacks in Taipei, as heartbreaking as some of them were, had achieved a lot.

“The expectations, so high before we went to the Jones Cup, is leveling off, I think," Guiao said during practice. “Nakita kasi ng mga Filipino kung gaano talaga kalalaki at kalalakas ng mga kalaban natin. Nakabawas din yong ng pressure sa 'ting mga players na mag-deliver."