Ginebra's core joins Gilas for back-to-back road games vs New Zealand, Australia — no rest for the weary

Four Barangay Ginebra players just won a PBA title on Wednesday — and they're already packing for international duty. Justin Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, RJ Abarrientos, and Troy Rosario are part of the 12-man Gilas Pilipinas roster for the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

The schedule is brutal. They fly to Auckland to face New Zealand on July 3, then head to Perth to play Australia on July 6. There's no rest at all — they go straight from the Commissioner's Cup trophy to the national team.

Ginebra head coach Tim Cone also runs the Gilas bench, so the transition is seamless. But the opponents are tough. New Zealand and Australia are both ranked higher than the Philippines in FIBA's world rankings.

The Philippines sits third in Group A with a 2-2 record. Only the top three teams from each group advance to the second round. So these two games are crucial — they need to win at least one to keep their spot.

Gilas will be without its two tallest players. Kai Sotto, the 7-foot-3 big man, is still unavailable. Quentin Millora-Brown, who stands 6-foot-10, is also missing. That leaves a size gap in the middle.

To fill it, coach Tim Cone called up two former La Salle big men: Justine Baltazar and Mike Phillips. Baltazar, 6-foot-9, returns to the national team for the first time in five years. Phillips, 6-foot-8, makes his FIBA debut after world basketball's governing body reclassified him as a local player — meaning he no longer counts as a foreigner for purposes of eligibility rules.

The rest of the lineup includes familiar faces: Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome, Kevin Quiambao, and Carl Tamayo. All of them have played in previous windows.

Some names from earlier rounds are missing. CJ Perez, Juan Gomez de Liaño, and Calvin Oftana aren't on this roster. Oftana, who played for TNT in the PBA finals loss to Ginebra, says he'll sit out two months to recover from injuries.

For the Ginebra core, the turnaround is almost nonexistent. They played a grueling finals series, won the championship, and now have less than two weeks before flying out. But that's the life of a national team player — country comes first.

The Philippines needs to hold its position to reach the second round of qualifiers. Every game counts now.