ALLAN THE MAN

The PBA on Wednesday announced the 17-player pool of the Philippine national men’s basketball team for its campaign in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year as the league reiterated its “full support” to Gilas Pilipinas.

Part of the list are reigning back-to-back MVP June Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel Beer; Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel; Paul Lee, Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine;

The Philippines continued to move up in the FIBA's world basketball rankings after the silver medal finish of Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Asia Championship.

From 31st, the Philippines improved three spots to 28th place in the world rankings. The country also improved its standing in Asia, trailing just China (14th) and Iran (17th) and surging ahead of Jordan (29th) and South Korea (30th).

China and Iran have combined to win the last nine Asian championships dating back to 1999.

Watch  the Top 10 Plays for the recently concluded 2015 FIBA Asia Championship. Here they are, the 10 most spectacular plays of the Asia Championships 2015, featuring Andray Blatche (Philippines), Qi Zhou (China), Jasmon Youngblood (Lebanon), Hamed Ehadadi (Iran), Chih Chieh Lin (Chinese Taipei), Terrence Romeo (Philippines), Jianlian Yi (China) and Matthew Ganuelas (Philippines).

Three out of Top Ten plays came from Gilas Pilipinas National team.

With their runner-up finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, the Philippine national men’s basketball team will have one of the three spots allotted for the Asian region in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year.

But Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Manuel V. Pangilinan believes that there is not much to gain from participating in the tournament and that the Gilas Pilipinas program should instead look ahead to the future.

“My view is that, I’m not saying we will get chosen for the wild card, but frankly my view is that we should opt out of it,” Pangilinan told InterAksyon.com in an interview.

After Gilas Pilipinas fell to China in the 2015 FIBA Asia Men's Championship gold medal match, Los Angeles Lakers' Fil-Am guard Jordan Clarkson quickly consoled Filipino basketball fans by voicing out his plan to suit up for the national team in 2016.

Clarkson posted on his Twitter account a video of himself going for a dunk with the caption: Tough Fight: In 2016, Jordan Clarkson and Gilas with the hashtags #AllIn #RoadToRedemption.

The Philippine national men’s basketball team fell short of earning an automatic ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics after losing to China in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship final on Saturday in Changsha, China.

But Gilas Pilipinas’ Olympic dream is still alive, although the squad faces a more difficult road to bring the country back to its first Olympic appearance in 44 years.

The Gilas Pilipinas, Philippine national men’s basketball team put up a gallant fight but China was just too much overcome as the hosts pulled out a 78-67 victory to capture the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship gold medal Saturday at College of Social Work Dayun in Changsha, China.

[[ WATCH GILAS PILIPINAS vs CHINA FINALS FULL GAME REPLAY VIDEO. 
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ]]

Naturalized player Andray Blatche top-scored for Gilas Pilipinas with 17 points and five boards, but he never found his groove against the Chinese defense.

The odds simply were too much to overcome. Amid the roar of a crowd hell bent on seeing them lose, Gilas Pilipinas fell versus the giant China, 78-67, to settle for silver in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship on Saturday, October 3 in Changsha, Hunan, China.

The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship (September 23 - October 3 at Changsha, Hunan, China) is a qualifier for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Winner qualifies automatically for 2016 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament. 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams earn spots for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

Competing Teams: China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar & Singapore.

The Gilas Pilipinas, Philippine national men’s basketball team got pushed to the limit once again by Japan but still remained victorious in their semifinal encounter, 81-70, as Gilas Pilipinas advanced to the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship finals Friday at College of Social Work Dayun in Changsha, China.

FINALS (October 3)

BATTLE FOR 3RD - 6:00 PM - Iran vs Japan

CHAMPIONSHIP: 8:30 PM - Philippines vs China

Gilas Pilipinas is moving on to the finals of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship. That became the case after the men’s national basketball team took down Japan in the semifinals, 81-70, on Friday, October 2, at the CSWC Dayun in Changsha, China.

In the gold medal match on Saturday, October 3, the Philippines will take on hometown team China, who beat Iran in the semis, with a ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics on the line.

The Philippine national men’s basketball team got pushed to the limit once again by Japan but still remained victorious in their semifinal encounter ,81-70, as Gilas Pilipinas advanced to the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship finals Friday at College of Social Work Dayun in Changsha, China.

Dondon Hontiveros had his best game in the tournament, scoring 18 points on six triples, including the dagger one late in the game that kept the resilient Japanese at bay.

China flashed its killer form in dethroning erstwhile champion Iran, 70-57, as the hosts moved on to the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship finals Friday night at College of Social Work Dayun in Changsha.

Former NBA player Yi Jianlian once again paced China with 13 points and eight boards while team captain Peng Zhou added 12 markers for the hosts that remain unbeaten in the tournament.

In last year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, Philippine national men’s basketball team forward Gabe Norwood made one of the most memorable plays – posterizing Argentina’s Luis Scola to land No. 3 on FIBA’s best plays list.

The athletic swingman isn’t quite done growing his personal FIBA highlight reel just yet.

2015 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP: Following his consistent and superb showing all throughout the tournament, Philippine national men’s basketball team star guard Jayson Castro is currently in the running to win the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship MVP award.

“The Blur,” who was named to the Mythical Five in the 2013 edition of the tournament, earning him the accolade as the best point guard in Asia, is currently averaging 17.4 points, three rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 56.3 percent.

2015 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP: Gilas Pilipinas is now in the semifinals where they will face Japan. The Filipinos are also already assured of a spot in the Olympic wildcard tournament next year if ever they fail to win the FIBA Asia crown which comes with an outright spot in the prestigious competition in Brazil next year.

WATCH PHILIPPINES vs JAPAN SEMIFINALS LIVE STREAM BELOW: