EVEN if Justin Brownlee had played through his injuries, Tim Cone still doesn’t see Gilas Pilipinas giving Australia any problem in their FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers showdown in Perth on Monday night.
Brownlee was nursing an painful hamstring among other injuries that Cone’s coaching staff no longer felt the need to gamble on the 38-year-old naturalized player against the current top team in the Asian-Oceania region.
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“Well, it wasn’t worth 40 points, that’s for sure,” said Cone when asked by Neil Bravo, the Australian-based correspondent of SPIN.ph, about the absence of the national team’s top gunner.
“You know, he’s a guy we can go to in tough moments, but he wasn’t just ready to go tonight. He wouldn’t be much of a help the way he was feeling.”
Despite hurting, Brownlee valiantly tried to play against New Zealand and Gilas came close to pulling off a major upset against the Tall Blacks on the road, losing 106-102 after two overtimes despite the naturalized player being held to five points and three shots.
With the Philippine already assured of a berth in the second round, the coaching staff felt the need to just rest Brownlee for the more important battles ahead.
Yet despite his absence, Cone believed Gilas would be able to stand toe-to-toe against the undefeated Boomers.
“We felt we could come out and compete. But we only competed in stretches, and that’s not good enough against a high-quality team like this,” said the Gilas coach, obviously referring to the second quarter when the Filipinos held Australia to just eight points to cut a 19-point deficit down to 41-27 at halftime.
“No. 6 team in the world. And there’s a reason why they’re that highly-ranked,” Cone added. “They really had superior athletes out there getting at us and getting into our shorts. And that made it tough for us.”
Gilas will carry its 2-4 record into the second round slated on August 28 and 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena. It finished third in Group A behind the Boomers and the New Zealand Tall Blacks (4-2), who demolished Guam earlier, 129-75.
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