Quiambao looks forward to well-rested third window
One would think that Kevin Quiambao, after watching Gilas Pilipinas go winless in the second window of the 2027 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers, would walk out of the locker room with his head bowed.
The multitalented forward, however, is taking the national team’s last two defeats pretty well.
In fact, he has moved his focus to the future—and he is pretty upbeat about it.
“I’m super excited for the next window because in this one, I barely had any rest,” Quiambao told the Inquirer after Gilas Pilipinas’ 93-66 beating at the hands of Australia at Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday night.
“A few days ago, I got here at 11 in the morning, and we had training at 2 pm. [I had] no days off since I came from Korea, but I’m still super blessed to be in the lineup and represent the country.”
The Korean Basketball League import barely had a chance to get a breather before the second window action, and it showed.
Quiambao was only on the floor for Gilas for 11.5 minutes on average across two games.
He scored two points against New Zealand and three against the Boomers.
Those numbers weren’t spectacular by any means, but the La Salle product was highly proud of his effort despite being fatigued.
“Hopefully, I get more rest before the third window. I’ll just maximize my time with what I can do,” he said.
Like most of the team members who spoke after the Australia game, Quiambao also felt that the national team has a lot to work on after getting swept.
“We need to figure out what’s missing and what we did wrong in this window,” Quiambao said.
