GILAS Pilipinas resumes its bid for a place in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup as it goes up against New Zealand in a home qualifier at the Mall of Asia Arena on Thursday night.
Here’s a preview of the match:
Philippines vs. New Zealand
When: Thursday, November 21. 7:30 p.m.
Where: Mall of Asia Arena
Battle of unbeaten teams
The Philippines and New Zealand occupy the top spot in Group B on 2-0 win-loss records, and one team will stay undefeated after Thursday night’s contest. The winner will also move closer to clinching a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 to be played in August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Out to break slump against Tall Blacks
In recent history, Gilas Pilipinas hasn’t found success against New Zealand in FIBA competitions. Their most recent game saw the Tall Blacks routing the Philippines, 88-63, last February 27, 2022 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asia qualifiers at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Oddly, only Dwight Ramos remains from that Gilas team that last lost to the Tall Blacks. New Zealand also beat the Philippines, 106-60, last June 30, 2022 in Auckland during the same World Cup qualifiers.
At the Mall of Asia Arena, the Tall Blacks also found success against Gilas Pilipinas, 89-80, last July 6, 2016 during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Thursday’s game for Gilas is certainly a challenging one against the world No. 22.
Tall Blacks’ new coach
New Zealand enters a new era after naming Judd Flavell as head coach of the Tall Blacks. Flavell has a resume that includes a playing career with the national team, having been part of the Tab Baldwin-coached Tall Blacks squad that reached the semifinals of the 2022 World Championship.
Players to watch
Izayah Le’afa is one of a few players in this team who played for the Tall Blacks in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, where he averaged 12.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.2 steals.
Tall Blacks 16-year veteran Corey Webster is also in the roster, with the four-time domestic league champion eager to be part of the squad as the captain.
New Zealand has also infused some young blood for the Gilas Pilipinas game in 21-year-old Kaia Isaac and 17-year-old Oscar Goodman.
Of course, who can forget Tom Vodanovich, a former import of Converge and is set to play once again for the Tall Blacks after collecting 13 points and five rebounds in the Asia Cup qualifiers game against Chinese Taipei.
‘Motivated’ Brownlee eager to atone from PBA finals loss
Justin Brownlee will once again look for a memorable performance for Gilas in its bid to finally break a losing slide against the Tall Blacks. Gilas coach Tim Cone indicated that Brownlee is motivated to play his very best against New Zealand after he suffered a loss with Barangay Ginebra in the finals of the PBA Governors’ Cup against TNT. Brownlee’s heroics will certainly be huge for Gilas’ chances of winning against New Zealand.
Iskati back with Gilas
Gilas Pilipinas will finally bring back Scottie Thompson into the line-up after he missed the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia. Head coach Tim Cone explained how important Thompson is to the team as they have an energy player back, with players such as Dwight Ramos and Chris Newsome going back to their usual roles. Though only averaging three points in the Asia qualifiers, Thompson has racked up nine assists in each of the two games of Gilas Pilipinas.
Three-point shooting
One of the reasons for Gilas’ success in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament is their three-point shooting where they combined for 29 in the three games including 13 in a game against Georgia. Surprisingly, Gilas Pilipinas had their opponents converting more threes in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers with 9.5 per game compared to 8 per outing for the Nationals side. Aside from excellent defense, Gilas must made their threes in order to improve its chances of winning against New Zealand, which is also making 8 threes per game during the qualifiers.
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