Gilas Pilipinas ready for the worst in FIBA Asia final

CHANGSHA, China - At the end of the second round of the FIBA Asia Championship, the stars have aligned in Gilas Pilipinas' favor when the team upset Iran and secured the top seed in its group.

The Philippines carved the best path in the knock out phase, avoiding traditional powerhouse teams China, Iran, and South Korea until the finals.

But heading into the championship match against the host team, odds have been stacked against Gilas,  with the team having to play back-to-back late games in the quarterfinals and the semifinals.

The semis match against Japan on Friday was even delayed due to "technical requirements of television." As a result, Gilas Pilipinas has to the gold medal game against undefeated China with less than 20 hours of rest.

IN PHOTOS: GILAS PILIPINAS VS. JAPAN

"China fixed that pretty well. They made sure we played the late game and they pushed it back half an hour," said coach Tab Baldwin. "But when you play here you expect that. I've been through it before."

The American-Kiwi mentor already faced China in a FIBA Asia final in 2011 when he was calling the shots for Jordan. His team fell short of the championship after a controversial call decided the tight game in China's favor.

In an earlier interview, Baldwin also said that China will get the 50-50 calls from the referees especially with the help of the home court crowd.

"I know that there's no such thing as a level playing field in China. So we have to beat not just the Chinese basketball team, we have to beat all the external factors that come into play when you play in China," he said.

Despite all the odds Gilas Pilipinas has to defy, the coach is not backing down at all from the challenge.

"We have every intention of doing that. I'm pissed off already just getting ready to play the game." --JST, GMA News