THE outcome of Gilas Pilipinas’ two games on the road in the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers will have a major impact on the team’s campaign going into the second round of the tournament next month.
Coach Tim Cone stressed the need to win either of the national squad’s outing against New Zealand and Australia – or even both – in the third window to give the Filipinos a better shot at qualifying for the Qatar showpiece next year.
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Losing both games could put Gilas in a precarious situation in the next round set in late August where it faces the specter of meeting huge, physical teams like Asian power Iran.
“If we don’t win one of these next two games, then we’re going to have a very small margin of error as we move forward to the next round,” Cone said in assessing the situation that his team is currently facing.
“It’s almost like we’re going to [have to] sweep the next round, and that’s really difficult with high-quality teams like Iran, Jordan,” he added. “So it would really help us out if we can win one of these next two games, and that would give us more margins of error as we move forward to the next round.”
Gilas takes on New Zealand on July 3 at the Spark Arena in Auckland, and then travel to Australia for its July 6 showdown with the Boomers at the Perth Arena.
The Philippines and Australia are already qualified from Group A to advance in the second round, with New Zealand likely to follow as the top three teams from each group earn a berth to round 2.
The Boomers are currently undefeated in the group with a 4-0 slate, followed by Gilas and the Tall Blacks at 2-2, and Guam with a 0-4 record.
In Group C, Jordan is on top with a perfect 4-0 mark. Jordan comes next at 3-1, Syria at 1-3, and Iraq at 0-4.
All qualified team will carry their records from the group stage to the next round.
Cone admitted getting bracketed with Australia and New Zealand was a tough situation for Gilas.
“We’re in a really tough bracket with Australia and New Zealand. It’s really tough,” he said. “They’re the best two teams in Asia. And they’re not even from Asia, they’re from Oceania.
“But we got put into it, so if we can steal one game, that’s going to be huge going to the next round and that’s really the plan.”
Game 7 mentality
The Gilas coach reiterated how Gilas needs to treat these two coming road games.
“Every game we play with Gilas, is a Game 7 championship. It’s the same feel, the same magnitude that goes on,” he said.
“So we’ve got to treat every game like it’s a championship game and that means we got to prepare the best we can prepare.”
Gilas is coming off a four-day training camp in Brisbane, Australia and completed a two-game sweep of its friendlies against the Franklin Bulls and the Manawatu Jets.
The Philippines has made the World Cup in its last three stagings in 2014 (Spain), 2019 (China), and 2023 (Manila, Japan, Indonesia).
Prior to its 2014 stint, the country missed qualifying to the World Cup for 36 years.
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