Dirty tricks? Gilas runs late for FIBA Asia final as team bus left discharged

Heading into the team's gold medal match against  China, coach Tab Baldwin warned Gilas Pilipinas was not about to head into a level playing field against the host team.

The Philippine side already had less than 20 hours to recuperate for the title match, as its semifinal game against Japan was pushed back by 30 minutes on Friday.

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.

Gilas faced another roadblock hours before its faceoff with China, as it found its bus unavailable by the time the team was ready to head to the venue.

It has begun. 'Our team bus, which is an electric bus, is discharged.They didn't charge it last night.We're running late now' #smh #anobayan

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) October 3, 2015

Now it has begun. Our Gilas electric bus delayed. Failed to charge daw. Gilas arrival at stadium delayed. Less time for warm up.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Some Gilas assistant coaches, meanwhile, found out they don't have tickets to enter the venue.

And some of our coaches no tickets!!!!! Wow.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Plus no tickets for some of our assistant coaches. Gggrrrr. And for us hard to get tix!!! Ggggrrrr.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Mapapaaway kami dito. Sh*t.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

All these things, however, come as no surprise to Baldwin.

"But when you play here you expect that. I've been through it before," he said. --JST, GMA News