GILAS Pilipinas goes for the sweep of the first window of the Fiba Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers against Chinese Taipei on Sunday at the Philsports Arena.
The game is scheduled at 8 p.m. in Gilas’ first game on home soil since their win over China in the Fiba Basketball World Cup last September.
Though still in the early stage of his stint as Gilas Pilipinas head coach, Cone noted the importance of sweeping the first window to the bigger picture of the four-year program whose ultimate goal is to qualify for the Fiba Basketball World Cup 2027 and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“If we don’t (sweep), we fall behind Taipei and we have to make the top two to advance to the Fiba Asia,” said Cone, referring to the tournament format where the top two teams in each of the six groups of the qualifiers will advance outright to the Fiba Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“This is a huge game. This is the one that is going to dictate it for you right here,” said Cone.
Gilas Pilipinas currently sits in a share of first place with New Zealand in Group B following its 94-64 win over Hong Kong.
Cone also said Gilas doesn’t want to disappoint the home fans who will come out for the game.
“We’ve got to take care of our home court here. This is absolutely crucial. We don’t want to lose at home. We don’t want to lose in front of our home crowd,” said Cone.
The Nationals are wary about Chinese Taipei even after it lost to New Zealand, 89-69, last Thursday, a final score that didn’t reflect the true complexion of the game where it was a tightly-contested affair before the Tall Blacks pulled away late.
Cone also hopes that Gilas won't play tentatively as shown in the game against Hong Kong where it got off to a flat first half and led by only four points at the break.
“I’m just hoping that the guys would play free and easy and not tight like they did against Hong Kong. For sure, it’s really, really important for us. It’s a crucial game in many, many respects. But for me, the biggest respect is that we are here in front of our home fans and we are at home. We want to protect our home court,” said Cone.
The Philippines will look to continue its excellent ball movement where it dished out 33 assists in the contest against Hong Kong, 16 of which came from Scottie Thompson and Justin Brownlee.
Brownlee also led Gilas in scoring against Hong Kong with 16 points, with Kai Sotto totaling 13 points and 15 rebounds in the win during their first game.
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