Amid NZ defeat, Gilas PH counts its blessings
National coach Tim Cone had concerns that the Doha friendlies may have done Gilas Pilipinas more harm than good going into a pair of return matches in the Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers.
He learned the answer to that question on Sunday, when the Nationals fell to the Tall Blacks, 87-70, in Auckland—the national team’s second straight defeat after its Middle Eastern sojourn.
“The Tall Blacks came out and just smashed us early,” Cone said. “They gave us a smash-mouth in the first quarter, and we just really never recovered. They came out all guns firing.”
Gilas had very few answers against a hot-shooting enemy once again, falling behind 30-15 in the opening period of the contest at Spark Arena.
Even with several gutsy attempts at a comeback, the Filipinos—misfiring and missing one of their most efficient cogs—sputtered towards the end, yielding the Group B lead to the Kiwis.
“You know, we were able to do a Doha trip before we came here just to try to get more time together and play more games,” Cone said. “And it probably hurt us more than it helped us in terms of being ready for Taiwan and New Zealand.”
Chris Newsome, for a second-straight game, was solid for Gilas with a team-best 13 points. June Mar Fajardo added 11 points and five rebounds while naturalized ace Justin Brownlee 10 and four.
“We had our opportunities to get the game tighter, but we just couldn’t make a big shot here or there,” Cone said. “Maybe we would have gotten the game a little closer. But as it turned out, they ran away [with] it.”
A couple of defensive lapses just when the Philippines was able to pull within 77-66 in the fourth, threw all the squad’s gains out of the window, eventually allowing the Tall Blacks to gain payback for a loss in Manila last November while allowing skipper and cornerstone Corey Webster to celebrate his 100th tour of duty on a positive note.
“Like coach said, it’s tough whenever you fall behind early in the game and try to claw your way back, especially on the road. They shot really well,” said Newsome. “I think they only missed one or two shots in that first four minutes of the game. Anytime [your opponent gets] off to a hot start like that, it’s gonna be a long night.”
There was no denying, however, that Gilas was sorely missing Kai Sotto. The 7-foot-3 big, through whom a lot of the squad’s action flows, has been grounded by a knee ligament tear and is expected to be shelved for the remainder of the year.
“We lost a really key player for a year in Kai, and we’re still trying to adjust how to play without him,” Cone said. “That’s something we’re going to be talking about as we go into the Fiba Asia Cup.”
Still, both Cone and Newsome found solace in having to play in a road game that felt like a homestand—something that even the hosts noticed.
Crowd support
The Gilas faithful once again made their presence felt, filling the arena’s stands, waving flags and cheering the Filipinos on even when staring at holes as big as 28 points.
“It was basically an away game at home with that crowd,” said Tohi Smith-Milner, the comebacking Tall Blacks standout who starred the Kiwis with 25 points and nine rebounds.
“What you saw in the crowd tonight, that’s a Filipino staple,” Newsome said. “No matter where you go in the world, you’re going to see the Filipino people show up for their basketball team. And I think you saw that tonight.”
Aside from the ubiquitous Filipino crowd, Gilas now knows it could also count on AJ Edu after making a good account of himself in his first two games after a long layoff.
Edu had seven points, 15 rebounds and a block to finish as the most efficient player for Gilas—surely a welcome development for the Nationals in light of the absence of Sotto.
“Everything we do—just like Coach Judd [Flavell] is saying—is cumulative. It’s cumulative experiences. So we’re trying to take each window as an experience and move it on to the next one and on to the next one and hopefully grow it and improve,” Cone said.
