Gilas vs. Boomers: Do we have a chance?

After our own Gilas Pilipinas conquered Akatsuki Five on their home turf and a succesful home court showing against Quincy Davis and his Chinese Taipe squad in the first window of 2019 FIBA Worldcup Qualifiers, our boys are now looking at the daunting task of bringing down the formidable Austrlian squad known as the Boomers, and what makes it tougher is we'll play them on their home.

We barely have a little more than 2 months to prepare for that game and so far what do we know about the Ausies, here's some bullets about these hopes power house from down under:

• Before playing (and eventually winning the crown) in the 2017 FIBA ASIA Cup 2017 in Lebanon, The Boomers is a legend in the now defunct FIBA Oceana region winning 19 championships on its 21 appearances. 
• They have played in the Olympics 14 times and 11 times in FIBA Worldcup
• Their current FIBA raking is 11th, they have slid 1 position down from the previous ranking
• Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley, Shane Heal, Matthew Dellavedova and Ben Simmons are few names from a long list of notable former and current national team member that has NBA or over seas playing experiences
• The current lineup that our boys will play has an average height of 195cm or 6'5"
• This team isnt that old too with an average age of 29 years old
• In 1st window of the WC qualifiers they have won with an average margin of 28 points
• Their defense was also very thight only allowing Chinese Taipe and Japan to score 62 points

These numbers and facts are truly impressive and very much fitting to a nation considered a powerhouse in the game we love the most.  Not to mention that their National Team program runs smoother than ours, I mean less politics - i supposed.

Tough as it may seem, but if given the right amount of preparation I positive that we can give these guys a run for their money.  Remember 2014 when we surpised the world? Yeah things are different now but #Puso remains.  But ofcouse moral victories arnt enough, specially when the nation is much divided by politics - and with Manny Pacquiao fights becoming less unifiying than it used to be, we'll need our Gilas Pilipinas to fill the void.  That in at least 40 minutes of ball chasing - hoops rattling action we shout and cheer together for one Team!

Let's support the team this February 22!  Of couse most of us cannot fly to the venue for sure we'll have the best seat in front of our TV, laptop and mobile devices.

#LabanPilipinas #Puso

Photo credits from FIBA website.