GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone lauded New Zealand’s play, particularly their torrid shooting that his team couldn’t overcome in their final game in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers on Sunday in Auckland.
The Nationals fell behind, 30-15, after the Tall Blacks shot 6-of-9 from rainbow country in the opening salvo alone. The Philippines eventually trailed by as many as 28 before dropping an 87-70 decision.
READ: Gilas gets Group B top seed snatched away by Tall Blacks
The Philippine squad couldn’t contain Tohi Smith-Milner, who fired 5-of-10 from threes to finish with 25 points. Corey Webster, playing his 100th game for the Kiwis, and Jordan Ngatai also combined for four threes to finish with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
“The Tall Blacks came out and just smashed us early and just gave us a smashed mouth in the first quarter,” Cone said. “We just never really recovered.”
“They came out all guns firing. Ngatai hit a couple of threes early and got to the rim a couple of times and that kinda set the tone. Milner was great all night. We were just playing on our heels the whole game, just trying to recover back from that early barrage.”
New Zealand finished at 13-of-33 from three-point range, and faced little resistance from the Filipinos from deep, as the latter only made 6-of-29, two of which coming in the first half.
Gilas was able to cut the gap to as low as 11 points, 77-66, after starting out the fourth on an 11-3 blast with Chris Newsome leading the way, but the Tall Blacks quickly responded with key shots, as the Philippines scored just four points after that.
“We had our opportunities to get the game tighter, but we just couldn’t make a big shot here or there. Maybe we would have got the game a little closer. But as it turned out, they ran away (with) it,” said Cone.
Tall Blacks' revenge
New Zealand avenged its 93-89 defeat to Gilas last November 21, showing why the Tall Blacks are ranked No. 22 in the world.
And so, Cone said the Tall Blacks' play wasn't surprising at all.
“They are a great team. We knew that. Coming in, we knew they were going to be excited about defending their home court. None of us really surprises us,” he said.
“We just wished we could have played a little better and given a little bit better fight.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
