Asi Taulava of the Philippines tries to recover the loose ball against Kuwaiti player during their game in the FIBA-Asia Championship on Wednesday in Tianjin, China.

TIANJIN — For Powerade-Team Pilipinas, the road to the Final Four in the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship will pass through either of two great geographic landmarks: The vast plains and deserts of Jordan or the Great Wall of China.

The Nationals brushed off “pesky” Kuwait Wednesday morning, 85-71, to advance to the final eight and clinch the No. 3 spot in Group E of the preliminaries, shoving them right in the path of the loser of the titanic duel between the two unbeaten teams in Group F, China and Jordan, later in the day.

The knockout quarterfinal round is set Friday, using the 1-vs-4, 2-vs-3 format.

Iran and South Korea, both undefeated in four games in Group E, dispute the top spot in the afternoon of Day Five to decide which takes on Kazakhstan (1-3) or Qatar (1-3) from Group F.

Kazakhstan and Lebanon (2-2) were playing at press time, as with Qatar and winless United Arab Emirates, a pairing that gives the Qataris the edge in their battle with the Kazakhs for the fourth spot in Group F.

Another knockout match at the close of the elimination features Japan and Chinese-Taipei, both lugging 1-3 slates, with the winner joining Iran, South Korea and the Philippines to the quarterfinals, against the winner of the Jordan-China mega-showdown. Chinese superstar and New Jersey Net Yi Jianlian grabbed 13 rebounds and shared 38 points with former Los Angeles Laker Sun Yue as the host held back Lebanon and Jackson Vroman, 71-68, late Tuesday.

The hard-earned win, unsurprising with the reinforcements Lebanon harnessed to beef up its team, booked China for a much-awaited collision with Jordan, which coasted past Qatar, 74-60.

Vroman scored 25 points and Matt Freije added 22 to power Lebanon back from a 55-44 third quarter deficit before running out of time.

Fadi El-Khatib, the ageless Lebanese star, was hardly a factor, going 1 of 7 from the floor before fouling out late in the game.

National coach Yeng Guiao found his players’ performance unacceptable.

“I’m disappointed even if we won,” he said. “This is our worst game. The energy level wasn’t there. I just didn’t see the effort.”

After high-octane games against Chinese-Taipei and Iran, the Nationals appeared to revert to their old ways, missing eight free throws, giving up 21 fouls, and turning the ball over on 16 occasions against a relatively overmatched opponent.

“This is not the way to prepare for the quarterfinals,” said Guiao.

The mercurial mentor was also angered when point guard Jayjay Helterbrand was knocked down after hitting a three-point shot in the third quarter and no teammate came to his rescue.

“I don’t want that to happen again,” Guiao told his players. “We take care of each other here.”

The Nationals led, 17-13, after 10 minutes and remained in the woods through the next two quarters before clearing their way out in the fourth.

Practice was set Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning as the Nationals gun for a semifinal spot, which would bring them tantalizingly close to advancing to the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul.

Asked which team the RP squad will prepare for, Guiao said: “Jordan na siguro. Kasi pag nanalo ang Jordan mamaya e pikit-mata na tayo against China. Mas me tiyansa siguro tayo with the Jordanians."

The scores:
RP 85 – Baguio 14, Taulava 12, Dillinger 10, Raymundo 10, Yap 9, Aguilar 9, Santos 9, Thoss 6, Norwood 3, Helterbrand 3, Miller 0.
KUWAIT 71 – Alrabah 20, Ashkanani 20, Saeed 12, Fadhel 6, Alsaeid 4, Alhamidi 4, Alkhabbaz 3, Fahdel 2, Jamal 0,
Quarters: 17-13; 40-29; 60-51; 85-71