JAKARTA - The Philippine quintet plays its last game in the 18th Asian Games against Syria Friday, looking for a triumphant finish that would better the country's finishes in the last two editions of the quadrennial continental games.
The Nationals take on the Syrians at 6:30 p.m. at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno, seeking a sweep of their consolation-round matches that will mean No. 5 windup in the 13-nation tourney.
"We want to feel good about this whole thing. We have had some losses but we still want to finish strong with some wins," said national coach Yeng Guiao.
"When we came here, the objective really was to better our last finish in the Asian Games. As of now, it's been achieved and we can do better. We'll try to do better Friday," Guiao added.
The Nationals have their sights set on the country's best finish in Asiad basketball since the fourth-place final ranking of the Jong Uichico-mentored Team Phl in Busan in 2002.
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The Rajko Toroman-coached team in the 2010 Guanzhou Games came in sixth then the Chot Reyes-mentored squad in the 2014 Incheon meet slid to seventh.
The team came out in earnest in its last practice session with Jordan Clarkson Thursday afternoon. And they're determined to win their last game here.
"We'll try to finish on a winning note. It's a good going away present for Jordan who's going back to the US and return to NBA camp," said Guiao of the Fil-Am NBA player whom they will miss in the coming September window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
"We want him to return and play for us again as a member of our national team. But there were some things considered like the schedules, the NBA, before we got him to play here. We'd got to go through a lot. And we need to get through those again for him to play for the national team in the next tournament," said Guiao on a query of an international journalist.
The Philippines should be the odds-on favorite against the Syrian team which has been only in its second Asian Games stint following its 10th-place showing in 2006 in Doha.
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The Syrian team has been in and out of international play because of civil war at home in over a decade now.
The star of the team Micheal Madanly, is well familiar to the PBA fans since he has had a stint in the local pro league as Asian import of TNT KaTropa in 2016. But the sweet-shooting forward is absent here.
The Syrians have also advanced to the second round of the FIBA World Cup Asian eliminators as the third qualifying team from Group C behind Lebanon and Jordan.
Because of war at home, the Syrians have been playing their home games in the home-and-away qualifying series in Lebanon.
They moved into the fight for fifth place in the 18th Asian Games with a 76-66 drubbing of the home team.(SB)
