FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Gilas Pilipinas’ seemingly endless years of torment at the hands of New Zealand finally reached its resolution on Thursday night in the Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers after a heart-stopping 93-89 triumph carved out before nearly 17,000 screaming souls at Mall of Asia Arena.
That showed how much this edition of the National Five has come since its debut last summer. And what this team has so far done is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg for a program that has hit its stride lately.
“We haven’t seen our best team yet,” coach Tim Cone said after the win very few saw coming. “We’ve been able to beat the No. 6 team (Latvia in the Olympic Qualifiers) and the No. 22 (in New Zealand).
“So we’re still trying to see where we can go and how far we can go.”
The next battle will not actually give the team the best answer to that, but rather open up the chance for Cone to be able to play his Nationals of lesser light when the Filipinos battle Hong Kong to sweep yet another window and secure a berth to the main tournament of the continental meet that will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August next year.
Things to address
“My hat is really off to the players and to what they’ve been doing to get to this level and to get to this point,” Cone said as he heaped praise on his charges, particularly Justin Brownlee, Kai Sotto and Scottie Thompson.
“I think we should be all proud of them.” he said.
There were, however, some things that Cone saw against the Kiwis which he didn’t like, something for him to address if he wants the Filipinos to keep chopping down bigger, heftier sides.
“The disappointment tonight was that we did give up 18 three-point shots. We have to get better at defending that,” he said during the post-game presser.
Only the steely resolve to win against the Tall Blacks—and be denied at home once again—got the Nationals through.
“They were 18-for-35 (from deep). That’s incredible shooting. And so we got to tip our cap to them,” he said of New Zealand. “[But] despite the incredible shooting, we were still able to win the game. So again, give credit to our guys.”
Brownlee put up 26 points that went with 11 rebounds and four assists along with two steals and a pair of blocks. Sotto turned in his finest game in a Gilas uniform with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists.
Thompson chipped in 12 points, four rebounds, and six assists to go with Chris Newsome’s 11 points, which was capped by a dagger three-pointer that was touched off by a key stop that sealed the Philippines’ rise to 3-0 in Group B.
“I remember this time—and I remember this very distinctly—where there was a lot of talk about Scottie (that he) can’t play in the international game,” Cone said of Thompson, who was playing his first Gilas game back after missing the Olympic Qualifiers back in July due to a bad back.
“The thing with Scottie, you can look at the video all you want. But until you get to the floor and play against him, you don’t realize what he’s doing out there on the floor for you.”
The match against Hong Kong is slated on Sunday, with the Filipinos out to duplicate a 30-point win the last time. And it would be interesting to see how Gilas plays against a side where it is the favorite.
