Gilas Pilipinas was stunned by the New Zealand Tall Blacks’ firepower and coach Tim Cone felt their foes showed a better game.
Cone said this after the Tall Blacks displayed a ferocious spirit before a hometown crowd in an 87-70 victory in Window 3 of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers on Sunday morning.
“We just wished we could have played better and gave them a better fight,” said Cone as Team Philippines conceded the no. 1 spot in Group B to the Tall Blacks, when action ended at the Spark Arena in Auckland.
The Tall Blacks started strong and were shooting from all angles, with Cone ruing his wards could have been better as they absorbed their second straight loss.
Cone said Team Philippines felt the intensity of the Tall Blacks’s game with the energy they showed in building up a big lead early in the game.
“They came out. The Tall Blacks came out. And they smashed us early. They just gave us a smashed mouth and we just never really recovered,” added Cone.
With big man Tohi Smith-Milner leading NZ by scoring 25 points and hauling nine rebounds, NZ concluded its Group B assignment with a 5-1 win-loss record.
“I think for us, there was a lot of importance on this game to come in and secure the top seed, first and foremost, out of our pool and into the Asia Cup,” said new TallBlacks’ coach Judd Flavell.
Gilas, which never recovered from the Tall Blacks’ first-quarter blitz, settled for second spot with a 4-2 slate.
The Tall Blacks, who avenged their 89-93 loss to the Philippines in November last year, took the lead behind three triples from Corey Webster, Smith-Milner and Max Darling for a 25-13 score in the last 2:53 of the first, after moving away from an 8-7 count.
Webster and Reuben Te Rangi chipped 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Tall Blacks.
“They came out with all guns firing, Jordan Nga Tai with a couple of threes before he got to the rim, and that set the tone,” added Cone.
Both sides have already made it to the tournament proper of the Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia, with the Tall Blacks, getting a place in the best pool in August.
The Tall Black’s flurry of three pointers in first half handed them a 53-33 spread at halftime.
They were up by as much as 28 points and stayed in the lead even if Gilas came to within 11, 77-66, with 6:28 to go in the final frame behind Chris Newsome and Justin Brownlee.
Newsome topscored for Gilas with 13 points, while Brownlee finished with 10, after getting the brunt of the Tall Black’s defense.