RIGA (Latvia) - Many people expected Brazil to come out victorious in Group B of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Riga; but how many had the Philippines not only qualifying for the Semi-Finals, but also beating Latvia en-route?
Key matchup
The biggest threat for Latvia and Georgia when facing Philippines so far was Justin Brownlee, one of the best two players of the competition, alongside Jeremiah Hill from Cameroon.
That's why Brazil will need to put a body on him as a priority. Whether this will be Leo Meindl, Gui Santos, or someone else.
Meanwhile hoping he's in the best shape after Goga Bitadze roughly landed on his rib in the last game, it will be interesting to see Gilas center Kai Sotto potentially matching up with the dangrous Bruno Caboclo.
X-Factors
Can Brazil slow down the Philippines' unstoppable three-point show? Despite attempting the least amount of triples in the tournament at 21.5 per game, the Asian side is shooting with an unbelievably good 51.2% from the arc.
Open three-pointers were an issue for the Brazilian national team starting the encounter with Cameroon, and they surely need to improve their approach defensively on the perimeter. Dwight Ramos, CJ Perez, and of course Brownlee himself could create a gap for Gilas.
Stats don't lie
Brazil should read passing lanes well and put the pressure high on Philippine ball handlers if they want to mark the gap with their opponents. The Philippines have been registering the highest turnovers per game at 18.5, with Brazil being second at 12.0 per outing.
Combining the games against Montenegro and Cameroon, Aleksandar Petrovic's team only amassed 13.5 points off turnovers. Increasing this amount and being more ruthless in their conversion rate could potentially make the biggest of differences to deprive the Philippines of their free playing style.
Past matchups
It's actually hard to find common ground in competitive basketball for Brazil and the Philippines, even if both nations share an undeniable passion for the sport.
Their first meeting came in an unexpected location, playing the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. That was the start of an unbeaten run by the green-and-golders against Gilas, with Brazil going 4-0 before this upcoming clash in Riga.
Two encounters came in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1954 in Rio de Janeiro, and finally in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1978 in Manila, crossing paths at their respective home courts.
On none of these four occasions did the Philippines manage to come out victorious. Can Tim Cone's players turn it around this time to keep on dreaming a little longer?
They said
"We need to be ready to give the message to the players on what we need to do if we would like to beat the Philippines. They have excellent players on 1-on-1 and first of all, we need top defense." Brazil head coach, Aleksandar Petrovic identifying defense as being key
"Latvia was coming off a back-to-back and we jumped out on them and we led 32-16. Then we knew Georgia was coming in with great energy as they had a level of desperation because they needed this game and a big margin to advance" Philippines head coach, Tim Cone has endured two very different starts so far - what will Saturday bring?
FIBA