Gabe Norwood of Team Pilipinas eludes Kuwait’s Abdulaziz Alhamidi during their FIBA-Asia men’s tournament game Wednesday which the Philippine team won, 85-71. The Nationals play Jordan on Friday and a win would put them in the semis. (NUKI SABIO)

Games on Friday (Tianjin gym)
Classification
9 a.m. — Kuwait vs Kazakhstan
11 a.m. — Japan vs UAE
Quarterfinals
2 p.m. — RP vs Jordan
4 p.m. — Qatar vs Iran
7 p.m. — Chinese-Taipei vs China
9 p.m. — Korea vs Lebanon

TIANJIN, China — The moment of truth is at hand for Powerade-Team Pilipinas – a million-to-one shot at making the Final Four of the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship here.

The odds are stacked sky-high against the Nationals when they go up against Rasheim Wright and Jordan at 2 p.m. Friday at the start of the knockout quarterfinals where the winners advance to the semifinals and possibly to the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul.

Other final eight matches feature defending champion Iran against Qatar at 4 p.m., host China against its estranged brothers from Chinese-Taipei at 7, and South Korea against Lebanon at 9 p.m.

The Philippines, which blasted Kuwait, 85-71, at the conclusion of the preliminary round, drew Jordan as quarterfinal opponent after China held off the Middle Eastern power, 89-83, late Wednesday.

New Jersey Net player Yi Jianlian had 28 points as the top seeded Mainlanders remained unbeaten in six games, setting up a meeting with No. 4 Chinese-Taipei, which dumped Japan, 99-79, in a do-or-die after both teams walked into their elimination match with 1-3 slates.

Qatar made it to the quarterfinals as a beneficiary of Lebanon’s 105-56 shellacking of Kazakhstan, but could find Iran, which shut down South Korea, 82-66, a less gracious team than the Lebanese.

South Korea, which suffered its first loss after five straight wins, and Lebanon dispute the fourth semifinal berth.

Originally, only the top three finishers are tagged for the plane to Istanbul.

But a clamor from FIBA Asia officials to include the fourth-placed team – and even the fifth – could open the way for at least one wildcard entrant, raising the stakes in these sudden-death matches.

The consequences of an upset couldn’t be more earth-shaking than for the Philippines and Chinese-Taipei, itself a wildcard in this tournament.

Between China and Jordan Wednesday morning, RP team coach Yeng Guiao had picked the latter, scheduling afternoon team practice that day in preparation for the Jordanians and their volatile Portuguese coach Mario Palma.

“Pikit mata na tayo pag China ang nakatapat natin,” Guiao had said. “Tingin ko mas me tiyansa tayo against Jordan.”

Jordan, despite its 31-point victory in the William Jones Cup tournament last month, could be more of a bad dream for the Nationals than their worst nightmare.

Most terrifying apparition of all for the RP team would be the 6-foot-3 Wright, a high school quarterback and US NCAA Division II Independent Player of the Year from District Columbia University averaging a FIBA Asia tournament-best 20.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

He had 28 points against China, 29 against Kazakhstan and 23 points against Lebanon in Group D of the preliminaries, a one-on-one force that single defensive coverage is practically helpless against.