A COMBINATION of a lack of emphasis on defense by the coaching staff and the whirlwind travel during the February window contributed to Gilas Pilipinas’ poor showing to close the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
National coach Tim Cone on Wednesday night looked back at the ‘could have’ or ‘should have’ at their Gilas stint in the Asia Cup qualifying tournament that saw them lose two games against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand after a blazing 4-0 start.
READ: Tim Cone insists no plan to add players to Gilas pool
Cone said the losses were disappointing, to say the least, especially that while they were playing on the road, the venue was full due to the presence of Filipino fans.
“You don’t want to embarrass yourself on the international stage and that’s kind of what we did out there,” Cone said in an interview with reporters after Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals between Barangay Ginebra and NorthPort.
“Throw away the Doha games, those things didn’t mean anything. But losing to Taiwan, and then getting beat up by New Zealand in front of home crowds, by the way, I should tell you those crowds were crazy. Amazing crowds. And the disappointment was we didn’t play well enough for them out there and we would have loved to,” he added.
Gilas failed to defend well-enough
One of his biggest takeaways was that Gilas wasn’t the same defensive team as it was in past competitions as the coaching staff was so focused on incorporating AJ Edu into their triangle offense following the absence of Kai Sotto due to an ACL tear that will keep him out for a year.
Edu played his first window with Gilas under Cone after missing the first four games due to injuries.
“I think the biggest part is that we just didn’t defend well all the way through. I think we got so locked in to trying to get AJ into the program, so we did a lot of teaching in the triangle. We had guys that were coming in from different places. We weren’t together for a lot of it," Cone said.
"We had I think two practices the whole time we were there. It was games, no real practices. But we can use any excuse that we want. The bottom line, we didn’t play well and we didn’t defend well. And that’s got to be our calling card," he added.
“That was our calling card in Latvia. That was our calling card when we played New Zealand here. It’s our calling card in the Asian Games. But it was really on me. I just didn’t emphasize it enough and it showed. So hopefully we learn some lessons and move forward,” he continued.
“Hindsight is best sight. If I could do it again, I’ll make sure that we get locked in defensively before we get locked in to the triangle. That’s on me."
Doha trip not exactly the best of decisions for Gilas
Cone also admitted Gilas Pilipinas going to Doha to play three friendly matches on three straight days wasn’t exactly the best of decisions.
The Gilas coach regretted not giving Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, and Edu a game off and the rest would have been valuable for them for the FIBA games – the matches that matter most.
“What I have a regret is that I didn't rest Justin and June Mar, and maybe Scottie and AJ in one full game in Doha. I should have not played them in Game 2. I should have not played them against Lebanon. Maybe played them against Lebanon, but not played them against Egypt," he recalled.
“But we wanted to win so bad. We didn’t want go out and get embarrassed. And it turned out we got embarrassed, anyway. But that was the intent. We didn’t want to get embarrassed, so we played these guys. And then I realized like halfway through the game, what am I doing? Keeping Justin and Scottie out there when we got to go play Taiwan and New Zealand."
Managing the road trip
As much as he wanted the trip to be difficult so as Gilas Pilipinas can get acclimated with it as part of the preparations for the FIBA Asia Cup proper in Jeddah, Cone admitted he too didn’t expect the trip to be that tough.
Even the 67-year-old coach said he had blurry eyes, and felt dizzy with all the travel.
“I can’t emphasize how hard the trip was and how hard the travel was. The travel, 10 hours, the five-hour difference in the time zone, then coming back 10 hours and then going to Taiwan and playing and then losing game. And of course, after losing to Taiwan, we were devastated. It’s hard to get back the energy and stuff," he said.
“Then we got to play three hours from Taiwan to Hong Kong and then sit around Hong Kong and take another 10-hour flight to New Zealand,” he added.
In the travel going to Auckland following their 91-84 loss to Chinese Taipei, Gilas Pilipinas wounded up practicing just once for the New Zealand road game.
“And then another 10 hours back (home). Plus, these guys are all flying economy. They’re 6-10, June Mar (Fajardo) is flying in economy. I didn’t foresee it being that hard. I wanted it hard but it was much harder than I thought it was going to be,” said Cone.
During the trip, Cone came to the realization how difficult it is to play road games especially for the PBA group of players and coaches who are only used to playing in Metro Manila and nearby cities such as Antipolo.
“It’s so much harder playing on the road against a home team than it is playing here. Obviously, playing New Zealand at home was hard for them. And I talked to the coach (Judd Flavell) and he said the travel for them was crazy when they came to play us," he said.
"When he saw me when we shook hands before the game, he said, so how was the travel, and I said, ‘Man, it was really tough’ especially since we went the Doha first,” he added.
He admits that it's one of those things that he himself is yet to adjust to.
“These are things that I’m still learning about the international game, in terms of the travel and how and what it takes and playing on the road. PBA, we don’t play on the road," he said.
"We always play here (in Manila), or always deep in our beds. We’re very rarely on the road. So the PBA players aren't used to it. Japan and Korea are a little bit more used to it, and they’re a little bit more used to back-to-back games. But frankly, I’m not,” Cone said.
Cone still proud of Gilas effort
Despite the conditions, Cone was proud that the players were still able to battle through with late runs in the fourth quarter in both games even though they fell short. In their final game of the qualifiers, Gilas Pilipinas lost to New Zealand, 87-70.
“The fact that they fought and played through it and did all that stuff and rode economy and stayed in foreign beds. And like I said, we had one practice in New Zealand. We didn't even have a shootaround because the shootaround was too early the next morning, too close to the game, so we had one practice in New Zealand," he said.
“They just battled, we battled through it. It was a great experience in terms of having to battle through these things. And this is something we're going to have to do in the future."
Following the experience, Cone also vowed to be better in managing the off-court aspects of the national team.
“Now, we know how to set things up better, I think, next time around. We’ll be smarter."
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