GILAS Pilipinas is slowly becoming the team that coach Tim Cone envisioned it to be —a defensive, inside-out team.
It was a working strategy that went well, involving a scenario that when the ball gets passed out of the post due to the difficulty of making an inside shot, hard and quick decisions are made afterwards.
Cone made his point on Thursday evening when the Philippines finally beat New Zealand, 93-89, in a physical encounter.
The shock win was considered one of the biggest reversals to happen in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers before a sellout crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We have 7’3”, 6’10” power guys (in Kai Sotto and JuneMar Fajardo). Our intention was to play in and out and take advantage of that,” said Cone after he reflected on Gilas’ big triumph before 11,686 fans.
The Tall Blacks, according to Cone, were able to take Fajardo out of his game from the inside, but Sotto was able to step up, addressing the shortcomings of the San Miguel Beerman, who was defended heavily all throughout.
With Sotto backing up Fajardo inside, Justin Brownlee led with 26 points and 11 rebounds, alongside 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Sotto finished with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists, together with a steal, and a pair of blocks.
Chris Newsome’s big triple helped Gilas’ cause as it gave them a 91-84 lead with 1:09 left, his shot coming after his defensive stop against Sam Waardenburg.
“Yeah, we’re built to be a more inside-out team than we are, than an open court, three-point shooting team,” said Cone, who added that they had to give up 18 three-point shots in that game.
Gilas will go for another win on Sunday, this time against Hong Kong, while the Kiwis seek to recover from their setback when they meet Chinese Taipei on Monday.
Debuting coach Judd Flavell said the Tall Blacks need to be a more cohesive team under his watch, after they posted four wins over Gilas during the time of Pero Cameron as coach.
“There’s a lot of synergy needed here. What we need is cohesion, and a lot of time together,” said Flavell.
The Tall Blacks, the bronze medallist of the 2022 Asia Cup, dropped to 2-1 in Group A.
They banked on Corey Webster, who had 25 points, along with Tom Vodanovich, with 19 points, and Waardenburg (19).
