Basketball is finally coming home – to where it is a religion and the people in it bleed and breathe the nation's favorite game.

To where NBA stars are celebrated like saints and to where every match, a nail-biter or lopsided, are treated like an epic tale.

The sport wasn't born here but it always felt like it. Filipinos, for one, through all circumstances, couldn't be more satisfied with a makeshift court on the mountains, basketball rings on every street, even in knee-level floods.

That's how crazy Filipinos are about basketball.

And it's only about to get crazier once the 2023 FIBA World Cup formally begins.

The renowned Araneta Coliseum, which bore witness to the historic clash between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a moment etched in the annals of boxing history, is now preparing to embrace another historic event.

This time, the hallowed halls of the Big Dome will host the new "Thrilla in Manila" – a collision of the world’s basketball heavyweights when the 2023 FIBA World Cup Groups A and B commence at the iconic arena beginning Aug. 26.
 

Branded as the "Home of Philippine basketball", it was only fitting for the Big Dome to host the games of Gilas Pilipinas which was drawn in Group A alongside familiar foes Italy, Dominican Republic, and Angola.

Group B, on the other hand, has the world powerhouse Serbia, China, Puerto Rico and South Sudan.

Italy and Serbia as heavy favorites

As expected, world No. 10 Italy from Group A and No. 6 Serbia in Group B are pegged as the heavy favorites to come out on top in the first round of the group stage.

Although missing some NBA players in Danilo Gallinari and Marco Belinelli, the Azurri remain formidable with a perfect blend of the young guns and veterans. Providing leadership to the crew are Luigi Datome, Simon Fontecchio and Nicolo Melli.

The same could be said for the Serbians, who are without NBA champion and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Although without its prominent leader, Serbia is no way lacking in talent with NBA guys like Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jovic ready to pick up the slack.

Death race to the second seeds; Hosts eye shocker

With the top spots, barring any major upsets, almost already assured, the slot to advance to the next round is what makes the group interesting.

In Group A, the Dominican Republic, in terms of rankings, experience and caliber of players, obviously has the inside track for the spots but the host Gilas, and even Angola, are capable of pulling off a shocker.

Gilas Pilipinas, for one, has all the motivation – the crowd, the familiarity with the arena and the bid for a historic Olympic berth – in its hand to try to pull the rug from under the Dominicans at the Philippine Arena on Friday, Aug. 25.

Spotlights are also surely on NBA caliber players in Jordan Clarkson for Gilas and Karl-Anthony Towns for Dominican Republic although the rest of their crews are expected to dictate the outcome of their game.

The highly anticipated match – the make or break game for the two teams – happens right exactly on the opening day of the competition. Imagine losing all that you worked for in months right on the first day of your campaign? Just how painful is that for the losing team?

Over at the Group B, it is a one-two race between Puerto Rico and China although South Sudan is an intriguing prospect and could potentially be the dark horse of the group.

The Chinese have given their bid of finishing as the best placed Asian team in the tournament a huge boost when it signed Kyle Anderson as naturalized player to join Wang Zhelin and Zhou Qi.

Whether that would be enough to keep in step with the No. 20 Puerto Ricans are still to be seen. The Americas qualifier though is certainly a no pushover with guys like Tremont Waters leading the pack in the absence of fellow NBA guard Jose Alvarado.