Japan vs. Philippines Prediction, Tips & Odds – Jul. 19, 2022 15:00 CET
Gilas failed to beat New Zealand in their final group game and are now faced with a mountain to climb in the additional knockout round. A very strong Japanese side awaits them and is expected to dominate but the Filipino team definitely won´t surrender before the start. The game should be interesting for the most part, but overall, Japan have more quality and experience and should be able to come away with a routine win.
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Japan Team News
Japan have started a new era after being led by the legendary Argentine coach Julio Lamas and it was a very bumpy start last year when the FIBA World Cup qualifiers began. In the end they barely managed to progress from their group so they are looking to make a statement at this Asia Cup, and so far they have been doing well.
Led by one of their NBA stars Yuta Watanabe,they had no problems against Kazakhstan and Syria crushing them by massive margins of 32 and 61 points. However, when their first real test against Iran came, all of their flaws and inexperience immediately came to surface.
An experienced Iranian side led by their legendary center Hamed Haddadi, gave Japan a free basketball lesson couple of days ago and exposed all of their weaknesses. Japan were outrebounded and outhustled losing by a respectable margin of 12 points in the end, but they were down by as much as 24 at one point. With the current competition and with their latest disappointing performance, we think they are not championship material and will have to be content if they even win a medal.
Yuta Watanabe flexed early, but it was Hamed Haddadi who got the last laugh in a faceoff between two of the best big men in the #FIBAAsiaCup! 👏
— 🏀 FIBA Asia Cup (@FIBAAsiaCup) July 17, 2022
🇮🇷 Hamed: 21 pts | 11 rebs | 4 asts | 3 blks
🇯🇵 Yuta: 17 pts | 10 rebs | 1 ast | 1 blk pic.twitter.com/qPr6Kbs7v2
Philippines Team News
Situation became so desperate that the Gilas team even had a special meeting before their game against New Zealand to lift the morale of their team. It didn´t work as the Philippines once again proved they are not able to compete against the best teams on the continent at the moment.
New Zealand´s young and talented team won quite comfortably by 17 points and controlled the game from start to finish. Gilas never really had a chance but the good thing is they didn´t completely fall apart and suffered an embarrassing blowout, which would have completely destroyed their morale heading into the game against Japan.
Their chances are slim but not non-existent. The Japanese team has more quality, experience and better tactical organization but one can never write off the Filipino basketball team, even with their current inexperienced roster.
Five players score in double figures to help New Zealand 🇳🇿 ease past the Philippines 🇵🇭 and wrap up the #FIBAAsiaCup group phase with a solid win!
— 🏀 FIBA Asia Cup (@FIBAAsiaCup) July 17, 2022
| @TallBlacks
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Japan vs. Philippines Prediction
After everything we have seen so far, Japan are expected to win with ease and breeze past the Philippines. However, just like in our preview of their game against New Zealand, we once again think Gilas have enough to cover the spread.
Players like brothers Ravena and Bobby Ray Parks are proven and experienced scorers at this level so this spread seems a bit too demanding for Japan in our opinion.
Date and time: 19.07.2022 12:30 CET
Prediction: Handicap Philippines (+12.5)
Odds: 1.83
Bookmaker: 22Bet
