CHICAGO - An overwhelmed Gilas Pilipinas got mauled by New Zealand on Sunday at the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers and barely put up anything that resembled a fight.
Playing at the Spark Arena in Auckland, our national team couldn't muster as much as a flicker in a thorough 87-70 beatdown where they trailed 67-39 at the 6:21 mark of the third quarter.
The sloppy, disorganized performance shouldn't shock the senses. Gilas only had a two-day camp in Laguna before embarking on this hellacious road trip that ended with a four-game losing streak which cost it the top seed in Group B of the upcoming Fiba Asia Cup this August in Saudi Arabia.
COLUMN: Gilas losses no more than a bad stretch; don't panic
"New Zealand smashed us early," coach Tim Cone said of the deflating loss.
Not just early, the Tall Blacks did it often and everything else in between.
All told, New Zealand shot better from the field overall, 43.5 percent (30-of-69) to Gilas' 37.5 percent (27-of-72). They also drilled more threes (13-6), grabbed more rebounds (45-40) and issued more assists (17-14).
POLAR OPPOSITES.
While Gilas appeared like the visual definition of helter skelter, New Zealand played the part as the 22nd-ranked team in the world, a powerhouse squad that was better prepared, more deliberate and dangerously motivated.
Stunned by the Philippine side last year, 93-89, New Zealand took out the head of Gilas' snake, the prolific Justin Brownlee, who was held to 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Tall Blacks limited the Ginebra import to just eight field-goal attempts and with the Brownlee-centric offense neutralized, the Gilas offense stalled.
Scottie Thompson was horrible, scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting including 0-for-4 from 3. Even Dwight Ramos was anything but saintly, just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Giants June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu acquitted themselves well and combined for 18 points and 20 rebounds but Tohi Milner-Smith, New Zealand's 6-foot-9 power forward, swallowed them both with a 25-point, nine-rebound effort that was highlighted by a sizzling 5-for-10 fare from 3.
SMOOTH OPERATOR.
Milner-Smith is the epitome of the modern big: Nimble. A strong defender. Runs and spaces the floor. And can consistently hit the outside shot.
We had one in Kai Sotto. And we are discovering how ill-equipped and desperate Gilas is without him. Often belittled, sometimes taken for granted, Sotto is Gilas.
I don't want to hear about fate taking him away from us via an ACL tear. That injury was 49 days ago. There was plenty of time to adjust but there was no Plan B.
And there definitely was no pool with which to draw talent from.
Justine Baltazar, Justin Arana and Arvin Tolentino are skilled enough to pass up as Kai Sotto Lite. But the insistence of preferably enlisting players that know Cone's system is not only myopic, it's an insult to other players' ability to learn and adapt.
SMC bloc players Thompson, CJ Perez and Jamie Malonzo deserve our gratitude for their service to the country, but how about calling up Jordan Heading, Ray Parks and Adrian Nocum?
With this four-game slide, I think the Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas (SBP) needs to revisit the idea that the Gilas coaching position must be a full-time job, not just a side gig even for someone as great as Tim Cone who is busy chasing championships in the PBA.
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