The Philippines can book themselves a spot in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers' Second Round should they take care of business against New Zealand on Thursday.
Gilas can advance right during the Second Window's opening gameday with a win against the Tall Blacks, a favorable position they earned after blowing out Guam twice back in the opening window last November.
As it stands, Coach Tim Cone & Co. are sitting atop Group A with a clean 2-0 record, and are bound to face a team that's coming in without a win yet as they got swept by Davo Hickey and Australia the last time out.
Can the Filipino dribblers get the job done?
Looking at their head-to-head matchups, New Zealand clearly have the advantage. The Oceania powerhouse has won six times in their seven encounters, including twice during the previous World Cup Qualifiers.
That sure doesn't look promising, given as well the manner in which they've lost. But the Philippines have already shown that they could flip the script, too - just as they did during the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
In what was the two teams' fifth meeting at the time, Gilas sent shockwaves by pulling off a thrilling 93-89 escape, marking the first time ever that they beat the Tall Blacks in a major FIBA competition.
That happened before an electric crowd of 11,000-plus at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, which will also be the venue of their highly anticipated rematch. Will homecourt advantage be of help once again?
While playing at home could offer a glimmer of hope, it sure is going to be a challenging game ahead for the Philippines as they won't have Kai Sotto, who returned to action just recently from an ACL tear.
The 2.21 M (7'3") center starred in that massive upset back in November of 2024, tallying 19 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assist, 1 steal, and 2 blocks as New Zealand struggled to put him on lock.
But he hasn't been around since due to the knee injury and it's pretty evident how big of a loss he is when they dropped their next two meetings, with the latest a 94-86 decision in the last Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia.
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