GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone was not able to hide his frustrations towards his players during their friendly match against Poland on Saturday.
It was even seen live on Polish national TV through Polsat Sport, which showed both teams' huddles during timeouts. Of course it was also caught on camera through online streaming all the way in Manila.
The Philippines ultimately lost to Poland, 82-80, in its final tune-up before the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament set from July 2 to 7.
In two occasions in the fourth quarter, Cone showed disappointment - even uttering expletives - to his players for their lackluster showing especially on defense when the Polish's lead began ballooning.
“We are not even trying even more,” he said during a timeout at the 6:52 mark of the final frame with Gilas down, 67-56. “Not even a (expletive) hustle to get back. You didn’t even come to the help on that pass. Nothing.”
“This isn’t about ‘Hey, yeah, let’s go.' (Expletive). It’s about (expletive) doing your job, fella. We look like an Asian team,” he furthered, reminding his wards that they hope to be on the same level of European basketball powers.
Cone emphasizes defense
Cone once again called another timeout, emphasizing the absence of effort on defense, minutes later when Poland continued to take control of the contest by building the biggest lead of the game at 76-62.
“Our defense just quit, fellas,” he told his players with 5:05 left in the game. “We are no longer working hard on our defense. We are standing up.”
“When you get tired, this is the time where you’ve got to get at it more, fellas, right here. Got to go lower, be more ready. Again, if you want to play at this level, these are the things that you’ll have to do. You can’t just play the way you want to play. You have to play at this level. That means getting down on guys, going, chasing, driving, making the extra effort,” he continued
“If we are not going to make the extra effort, we can’t stop these guys. That’s what I talked about in terms of our defense.”
Cone’s call appeared to have worked as the Filipinos' battled back late fueled by Dwight Ramos. Still, their rally fell short and they lost by two points.
With that, Gilas lost both of its tuneup games in Europe after also falling short against Turkey, 84-73, They now head to Riga, Latvia for the FIBA OQT.
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