At A Glance
- Gilas Pilipinas has shifted its preparation to a higher gear as it entered its closed-door training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna on Sunday, Sept. 17, with only a week left before the Asian Games.
Gilas Pilipinas has shifted its preparation to a higher gear as it entered its closed-door training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna on Sunday, Sept. 17, with only a week left before the Asian Games.

The Nationals have been in practice at the PhilSports Arena since the formation of the team last Monday and the training is expected to get even more intense as head coach Tim Cone was firm on not making any shortcuts in having his wards master the fundamentals of the new system he is trying to employ.
“We're gonna be foundational, we're gonna be fundamental and get to whatever level we can get to by doing it the right way," said Cone.
Gilas will be spending its final week of preparation in the camp and is also set to play tuneup games before flying for Hangzhou on Saturday, Sept. 23.
The Nationals are tipped to play Meralco on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Inspire before taking on Korean club team LG Sakers when they return to PhilSports Arena on Friday, Sept. 22.
The Bolts, coincidentally, are also in the middle of its buildup for its own international stint with a pocket tournament in Qatar against Middle East clubs. The exhibition against the Sakers, meanwhile, will be open to the public as Cone hopes to see the fans fill up the stadium.
Cone was also hardly worried about the tuneup games – or the lack thereof – as he believes that what the team needs right now is ample practice time together to get themselves familiarized with the system.
“We really don't have much time to play a lot of friendly games. To me the practices are more important than the friendlies because we learn more in practices," the multi-titled mentor explained.
Gilas is grouped with fellow World Cup team and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson-bannered Jordan, Southeast Asian rival Thailand and the rising team Bahrain which qualified to the Olympic Qualifying tournament behind naturalized player and ex-PBA import Wayne Chism.