After back-to-back losses, the Philippines is currently at the bottom of the 2023 FIBA World Cup standings at 0-2. But this doesn’t mean that they are already out of contention. The path to the next round  just got slimmer.

Falling to the now Group A leader the Dominican Republic, 87-81, and last night to Angola, 80-70, the chances of the Philippine don’t look good. 

However, Tuesday’s games will be critical as it will spell the difference if the Philippines can still proceed to the next round of the  World Cup.

Slim as it may, how can the Filipinos pull it off?

While the situation may be hard, all pieces should fall into place and the Philippine Team taking care of business.

For the scenario of the Philippines entering the next phase, it will include the teams of Italy and Angola.

They must fall into a three-way tie at 1-2. The Philippines should also possess the best quotient among the three teams in games played against each other.

Easy as it may sound, the task is daunting.

HOW THINGS SHOULD OCCUR

Dominicana wins over Angola.

Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl Anthony Towns is proving in the last two games why he is a superstar in the NBA with the two wins against the Philippines and powerhouse Italy.

Now Towns and the Dominican Republic can help Gilas Pilipinas’ chances in advancing to the next round by beating Angola.

If they sweep Group A, they knock Angola down to 1-2, giving Gilas an opportunity to force a tie in the standings.

Courtesy SBP

However, should Angola pull off another win, they will move up alongside Dominican Republic with two victories, and virtually Gilas.

But that is not all that the Philippines need to increase their chances. They will also have to take care of business on Tuesday and beat World Cup No. 10, Italy.

Beat Italy by more than 13 points.

Should such an instance occur, Gilas needs to win by a big margin.

This will then have the FIBA’s tiebreaker rules, wherein Gilas will take  second place in the group.

Courtesy: SBP

Nw, the first tiebreak will involve Gilas, Angola and Italy’s record against each other.

In this scenario, all three teams will hold one win and one loss against the other two teams, then the tie will not be resolved there. 

We then move on to the scenario where the point-differences of the teams in the games between them will matter.

Angola already has its point-difference set with their 14-point loss to Italy and 10-point win over the Philippines resulting in a -4.

Courtesy SBP

Presently, Italy is at +14 and Gilas stands at -10, this will change depending on the outcome of the game.

Gilas needs to win by 13 points or more to make them have a superior quotient of +3 while Italy will have a +1, both of them ahead of Angola. 

If the win is 12 or less, Italy will advance to the next round with the best point-difference.

Courtesy FIBA

So Tuesday will be an all important game as Angola takes on the Dominicans at 4 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, and Gilas will then have to take out all of the “never say die” and “puso” attitude at 8 p.m.