What always seemed impossible will remain impossible until it's done.

To say that odds were stacked against Gilas Pilipinas was certainly a huge understatement – facing a No. 6 team in the world right on its home turf and before a huge, boisterous crowd behind it.  

It was easy to doubt and just fold to the pressure. Judging by its past performances on the world stage, the Filipinos were bound to lose anyway. And the only hope was for the Nationals to have a gallant stand and, perhaps, be spared from humiliation by giving the basketball-crazy nation something to be proud of even in a loss.

But that was far from the plans of Gilas head coach Tim Cone. Not for the 11 brave soldiers beside him. 

The Nationals pulled off an upset of an epic proportion, taking down Latvia in a wire-to-wire 89-80 win. One may look at the final score and think that the game was pretty much close but it was far from being like that. 

Gilas led by as many as 26 points in the second half and while it had to overcome some anxious moments in the final frame, the team showed poise and held on for the victory that ended the country’s 64-year record of futility against the European teams.

And it all began in Cone’s belief that they could actually do it.

“We’re not here to win a game. We’re here to win a tournament, to win the whole thing,” said Cone who proved and earned every right to be ambitious in possibly ending the country’s 52-year absence in the Olympics.

“It’s a feather on the cap for everyone. We just came off winning the Asian Games which was the first time in 61 years so that was huge for us as well. We are so passionate about the game so for us to have success on the world stage really means a lot to what's going on back home,” added Cone.

Under Cone, Brownlee weaved his magic once more and put up a near-triple-double showing of 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Everyone else contributed from Kai Sotto, who was also showing flashes of brilliance that everyone expected from him ever since he opened up about his dream of playing in the NBA, to June Mar Fajardo, who was always deemed unfit for international play.

The two anchored Gilas’ thrust on both ends of the floor with Sotto putting up 18 points and eight rebounds while Fajado chipped in 11 points, five rebounds, three steals and a block.

“This is what we've always wanted. This is a big huge step for us, to be able to play a Latvia team at home and just go at them, face to face and come out with a win.  It's amazing. 

As big as the victory was for Gilas, the Nationals were not too ecstatic, knowing full well that the job was far from over and that they had to do it all over again against another European team in Georgia.

“It's amazing for us but like I said we're not just here to win one game. We really want to try and get to the Finals and see what would happen if we get to the Finals, that's really the goal,” stressed Cone.