Gilas Pilipinas' preparation for Qatar and Kazakhstan in the sixth and final window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers can now kick into high gear with the PBA on a two-week break.
Anything less than a sweep of Qatar and Kazakhstan would likely end the Philippines' hopes for a World Cup berth.
Gilas lost its last two home games late last year to Kazakhstan and Iran, dropping the Philippines to fourth in Group F at 5-5.
"We're not even thinking of [the losses]," Yeng Guiao said. "We take it one game at a time. We're not even looking at the other group. We're just thinking of our last two games."
Gilas will practice Thursday and scrimmage against Meralco on Friday. The team begins its journey to Doha, Qatar on Saturday.
Andray Blatche, who returned to China last week, will join the team in Qatar over the weekend.
Assistant coaches Ford Arao and Sandy Arrespacochaga will also head out to scout Kazakhstan when it plays a qualifier against Australia on February 21 in Astana.
Gilas assistant coach Caloy Garcia is focused on Qatar and its new coach Panayiotis Yiannaras, who replaced Tim Lewis late last year.
Lewis, a former lead assistant coach with the Bakersfield Jam in the NBA D-League, coached Qatar last September in its 92-81 defeat to Gilas in their closed-door game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"We've been looking for videos of [Yiannaras'] past teams. He was the coach when they played Australia [in November] so we're trying to look at what kind of system he runs."
Garcia said Gilas will use its quickness to counter Qatar's size advantage.