JAKARTA - The Philippines finally returns into action from a five-day breather, hoping it has done all the necessary preparations for its keenly awaited showdown with South Korea in the 18th Asian Games men's basketball competition at the GBK Basketball Hall here.
It's a quarterfinals showdown where the winner advances to the medal round while the loser is relegated to the consolation round.
Game time is at 10 a.m. (11 a.m. in Manila) with the two teams reliving a rivalry that dates back all the way to the early years of Asian basketball.
Sadly, the Philippines has been on the losing end most of the time over the last four decades.
One of the rare times Team Phl had emerged victorious over South Korea was in 2013 in the FIBA Asia Championship at the MOA Arena in a stirring victory that gave the Nationals a first trip to the World Championship in 40 years.
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Then the Nationals have since always been on the losing end again, suffering one loss after another from their quarterfinal round loss to the Korean in the 2014 Incheon Asiad.
Coach Yeng Guiao and his Jordan Clarkson-led squad try to break the spell Monday in a bid to stay in the hunt for a medal of any color here.
Standing on Team Phl's way to the medal round is the tough South Korean team made tougher by a familiar player - bull-strong 6-foot-8 former PBA import Ricardo Ratliffe.
The former Missouri U stalwart has been a monster at the paint, averaging 23.3 points and 13 rebounds a game while the South Korean gunners have been shooting the lights out here, hitting three-pointers at a high 47-percent clip.
Alas, coach Yeng Guiao said the Koreans are more than just Ratliffe and their outside shooting.
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"They don't have the length of China but they're definitely quicker, they have more movements and they have better shooters," said Guiao. "Korea is a team in perpetual motion. Nobody watches the ball. Four guys always move, making the coverage harder. You have to look at the ball while at the same time you have to stay connected with the shooters."
Team Phl has a good overview of Korea. The challenge is whether it can lay down the right game plan for the deadly Koreans.
"Concept-wise, we understand what they're doing. Still we want to stay in front of them and challenge them when they take a shot," said Ryan Gregorio, a three-time PBA champion coach serving as the lead scout of Team Phl here.
As they've shown in their group games against Mongolia, Indonesia and Thailand here and from their outings in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, all the Korean players can explode at any given game.
Ratliffe erupted for 30 points and 19 rebounds in their 104-65 mauling of Indonesia then Heo Ilyoung, Jeon Junbeom, Lee Jeunghyon and two others joined their naturalized player in piling up double-digit outputs in their 108-73 mangling of Mongolia.
Ratliffe, Jeon and Kang Sangjun scored 21, 20 and 20, respectively, in their 117-77 triumph over Thailand.
The Koreans sizzled with 12-of-30 three-pointers against the Indons, 15-of-34 versus the Mongolians and 15-of-32 against the Thais.
In the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, the Koreans have also been shooting at a high clip (37.6-percent) from beyond the arc - their lethal weapon in splitting their games with New Zealand and China, and in sweeping Hong Kong for a strong 4-2 card in Group A.
But the Koreans are definitely not unbeatable.
For one, Guiao believes no Korean can stop Clarkson on a single defensive coverage.
"We are expecting him to play even better than in the China game. (We expect him to be) more efficient. I'm not saying he will score more than 28 points but I think the more important thing is he is going to be more efficient, increase his percentages, and create situations for his teammates, which means probably more assists," said Guiao.
If they're able to play the same way they did in their 80-82 loss to China, Guiao believes they will have their chance against Korea.
