Gilas Pilipinas Braces for Jalen Harris-Led Jordan in Crucial WCQ Window 4 Clash
Key Takeaways
- •Jalen Harris led all scorers in the first round of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers with 27 points per game and a 45.3% success rate from three-point range.
- •Harris scored 42 points with eight three-pointers in Jordan’s 100-48 win over Syria, the second-highest single-game total in WCQ history.
- •Jordan opened the qualifiers with a 5-1 record, with Harris also averaging 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in his first six games.
- •Ahmad Al Dwairi and Freddy Ibrahim were key contributors for Jordan in the first round, providing production inside and in playmaking.
- •Gilas Pilipinas has beaten Jordan in recent meetings, but it enters the Group E game at 2-4 and needs to stop a four-game losing streak.
Jordan will unleash the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers' (WCQ) top gun, Jalen Harris, when it renews its rivalry with Gilas Pilipinas on Friday, and the high-scoring swingman is set to test the Filipinos' defense in a pivotal matchup.
A former NBA player with the Toronto Raptors, Mr. Harris led all scorers in the first round of the qualifiers, averaging 27 points per game while shooting 45.3% from beyond the arc.
His most memorable outing came last November, when he erupted for 42 points on eight three-pointers in the Falcons' 100-48 demolition of Syria during the first round. The explosion ranks as the second-highest single-game total in WCQ history, just two points shy of the record 43 set by Korea's Ra Gun (also known as Ricardo Ratliffe) back in 2018.
The 6-foot-5 Mr. Harris, 28, also averaged 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in his first six appearances for Jordan, powering the Falcons to an initial 5-1 record. He took over as the team's naturalized player from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
"Mr. Harris is always a threat on the floor and is one of those scorers who can heat up anytime," FIBA said in its assessment of the guard-forward.
That firepower is expected to keep coach Tim Cone's squad busy defensively when the two sides collide in the crucial Window 4 assignment at the SM MOA Arena, with Group E positioning adding weight to a game that carries significance beyond the rivalry itself.
Jordan's supporting cast poses its own problems. The 6-foot-11 Ahmad Al Dwairi delivered 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, while 6-foot-2 playmaker Freddy Ibrahim posted norms of 1.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists in Round 1.
The Nationals can draw confidence from their recent mastery of Jordan, having prevailed 75-61 in a pre-FIBA Asia Cup tune-up in Jeddah in August last year, along with their celebrated 70-60 triumph in the battle for the Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou in October 2023.
The Group E rivalry duel amounts to a must-win for Mr. Cone and his charges (2-4), who need to snap a four-game skid in the qualifiers to bolster their bid for a return trip to next year's global meet. — Olmin Leyba
