JAKARTA -- Philippines head coach Yeng Guiao has every reason to believe that the men’s national basketball team has what it takes to take down South Korea and advance to the medal round in the 2018 Asian Games here.

The Philippines has not placed in the top 3 in the Asian Games since 1998 and standing in its way is old nemesis South Korea, the team that has broken the hearts of Filipino basketball players and fans many times over the years.

“Maganda ang pakiramdam ko this time,” Guiao said ahead of the quarterfinal showdown scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. here (11 a.m., Manila time). “With the Korea game, I feel that even ‘yan.”

One big reason for Guiao’s optimism is the presence of Jordan Clarkson, the Cleveland Cavaliers guard who made an immediate impact in his very first game for the Philippines.

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Against China, it was Clarkson who sparked the Philippines’ comeback by dropping 16 points in the third quarter alone. He finished with 28 points in what turned out to be a slim 82-80 loss.

Guiao won’t deny that Korea has many advantages in terms of personnel, including naturalized player Ricardo Ratliffe, but he is also convinced that the Koreans will have no answer for the 26-year-old Clarkson.

“I don’t think they have a match-up for Jordan,” Guiao noted. “So it depends on how we’re able to capitalize on that.”

Given his athleticism and skill, Clarkson can most likely score against any defender that Korea throws at him. However, Guiao does not want him to simply take matters into his own hands all the time.

“That’s a really hard way of trying to win the game,” Guiao said.

“He must involve his teammates, he must get some help from the others and we have already incorporated that into the game plan, how he can force the defense to double team him pay special attention to him, which will free up the rest of the team.

“If he has the opportunity to score, alam na niya yun. He knows and he will understand and he will be able to read that situation,” he added.

Guiao said he also expects Clarkson to be more efficient than in their game against China, wherein the guard made only 10 of 25 field goal attempts.

Thankfully for Guiao, Clarkson and the rest of the Philippine team had time to integrate the NBA player more fully into their system, as they had five days between their game against China and the showdown with Korea.

There were still some issues, though. On some days, the team was given only 50 minutes to practice, which for Guiao was not nearly enough especially when preparing for a team of South Korea’s caliber.

Yet on Sunday Guiao pronounced the team ready to play.

“It’s the big game, and we’re ready to play Korea,” he said. “I feel good about this game.”

“We’ve prepared everything, and we tried to keep our game plan as simple as we can,” he added. “It’s really hard to prepare against a team that has no weaknesses, (but) we put together a plan that we feel is the best.”

Ratliffe, who is averaging nearly 24 points and 13 rebounds per game, will be the Philippines’ primary concern but he will also be surrounded by shooters in Lee Jung Hyun, Kim Sunhyung, Heo Ung, Heo Ilyoung and Jeon Junbeom and bigman Kang Sangjae.

The winner of the South Korea-Philippines game will go on to face either Iran or Japan in the semifinals.

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