HANGZHOU – Disappointed but not discouraged.
That’s how Tim Cone described his state of mind in the aftermath of Gilas Pilipinas’ 87-62 loss to Jordan on Saturday night that denied the team of an outright passage to the quarterfinals of the 19th Asian Games basketball competitions.
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“I wasn’t happy after the game,” admitted Cone. “I wasn’t happy with our effort in the fourth quarter. I thought we should have finished the game stronger. We just kind of let it go and let them build up a big lead. So I was disappointed with that.”
The Gilas coach of course, was referring to that crippling 13-0 run by Jordan bridging the end of the third period and early of the fourth that turned a tight 52-all contest into a 67-52 lead for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Co.
The loss was so bad Cone kept things to himself and didn’t grant post-game interviews as he usually does every game, win or lose.

But as reality sets in, the national team hopes to quickly turn things around and prepare for Qatar in its second and final shot of advancing to the quarterfinals.
The game against the Qataris, who finished as the third seeded team in Group D, is set at 4 p.m. on Monday at the Zhegiang University Zijingang Stadium.
“It’s over and done with. We got to move forward,” said Cone of the loss to Jordan, which he considers as the best team in this edition of the continental showpiece.
“That’s going to be our biggest test, our strength, hopefully, is that we moved forward. We got to get Qatar, which we feel we could beat.”
The Qataris will be led by top gunners Abdullah Mousa, Babakar Dieng, and Khaled Abdelbaset.
A win by the Philippines would have it advancing to the quarterfinals, where awaiting for Gilas is Group A top seed Iran.
A loss would be costly as it means missing a podium finish and being relegated to the classification for 5th to 8th places.
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