FIBA Asia 2015 Matchup Preview: Gilas Pilipinas Basketball opponent Palestine national team will be the first game of Gilas on September 23 at Changsha China in FIBA Asia 2015 preliminaries. We dissect and analyze the strengths and weaknesses, together with the best cagers of Palestine that will fight opposite RP Five.

Palestine, a relative unknown in the world of international basketball, once was part of FIBA Africa. One notable bright spot for the Palestinians is their top three finish in the last FIBA West Asia Basketball (WABA) behind Lebanon and Jordan. They also defeated Syria and Iraq.

Sani Sakanini is the go-to-guy of Palestine. Sakanini plays without fancy, but is undeniably swift, athletic and possesses a high basketball IQ. He is the Zaid Abbas clone of team Palestine. He shoots consistently, slashes to the basket and dunks the ball with a facial. He’s got a mean one-hander and can dribble the ball coast to coast.

“I am trying to prove to people in my country that I am trying to build something from nothing,” Sakanini who played as a pro for Korea, China and Lebanon was quoted in a report by TheGuardian.com

Several players in Palestine are foreigners with Palestinian bloodline. Their head coach, Jerry Steele, managed to acquire players from North America with Palestinian origins. That is one reason why they have a few foreigners in the national squad.

Former Jordanian team member and Palestenian-American Jamal Abu Shamala who played for NCAA Division I is also suiting-up for Palestine. Palestenian-Canadian Ahmed Haroon, the licensed gunner of Palestine, and the elder brother of Sani, Salim Sakanini will play for Palestine.

Palestine is bannered by several tall players who can run the court, shoot threes or pound the ball inside the paint. With Sani expected to play major minutes, Palestine will most likely be on the attack mode. The weakness of this national team lies heavily on their dimunitive point guards. The Philippines may clog and harrass the guard and wing positions to disrupt the offensive flow of the Western Asians. Palestine is also known for lackluster defense. It remains to be seen if they can impose their youth and height against the experienced and more cohesive Gilas squad.

We also expect Matt Ganuelas Rosser and Gabe Norwood taking turns to hound and effectively shutdown star player Sani. If Sani tries to post-up, we will expect Marc Pingris to do the defensive assignment. Calvin Abueva or JC Intal might also be tasked to shadow the sweet shooting Haroon.

Omar Khrayem should be part of most scouting reports, but the Asian import of Globalport in the PBA is not listed for FIBA Asia Championship 2015. However, his knowledge of the Filipinos talent would still be a treasure trove for the Palestinian cause.