With an outright berth in the Rio Olympics on the line, the Philippines and China will throw everything on the line in their championship match set at 8:30 p.m (GMT +8) in Changsha, Hunan, China.
The Philippines booked its second consecutive trip in the gold medal match of the FIBA Asia Championship after grinding out an 81-70 win over Japan in Friday's semifinal match. The trio of Jason Castro, Andray Bltache and Dondon Hontiveros combined for 70 of the Philippines 81 points to fend off an upset-minded Japanese led by sweet-shooting guard Makoto Heijima.
On the other hand, China leaned on their quarter of seven footers to come on top of Iran 70-57 in their own semifinal encounter. Former NBA lottery pick Yi Jianlian racked up 13 points and 8 rebounds to lead the way for the Chinese, who never conceded the lead to Iranians since the opening salvo.
Sammad Nikkah Bahrami registered a team-high 18 points, but the Iranians couldn't muster enough production from big man Hamed Haddadi and Mehdi Kamrani. China built a nine-point lead 21-12 at the end of the first quarter and they never looked back. Although Iran managed to cut the score by six points, 58-52, in the fourth, China fended that off easily with a finishing kick to turn back the defending FIBA Asia champ.
Philippines and China will rekindle their rivalry in the Asian basketball scene, with the latter dominating the former in head-to-head encounters. However, Smart Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin insisted that winning the gold medal and an automatic seat in Rio Olympics is the main goal of the team, and they have come in Changsha for that reason alone.
Tip-off of the gold medal match between China and the Philippines is scheduled at 8:30 p.m. Sports5.ph, LiveBasketball TV and Sports Stream provides online live streaming of the match, while FIBA Score Sheet caters play-by-play analysis, stats and updates as the game progresses. PhL vs CHN Replay - Click Here