MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas’ previous losses were a bitter pill to swallow, but the only thing the team can do is move on as it plunges to the real action.
Head coach Tim Cone said his wards have shifted their focus on Chinese Taipei and New Zealand for the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers after a dismaying run in the Doha International Cup in Qatar.
The Nationals opened their campaign in Doha with a come-from-behind win over Qatar but got whipped by Lebanon and Egypt.
“We’re trying to erase all the bad juju that happened to us in the Middle East. It was tough. It was not a lot of fun watching teams beat us up. We knew we should have played better, we should have been better,” said Cone.
“But again, that is then and that’s the past and they had nothing to do with the qualifiers or our world ranking or anything. They were truly practice games.”
“We’ll find out, was that too hard for us? Did it exhaust us too much for this? Or did it prime us for this? We’re hoping it’ll prime us into the Taiwan game.”
The back-to-back routs — a 21-point beating from Lebanon and a 31-point drubbing from Egypt — were the worst losses the Philippines has suffered since Cone officially took over as head coach.
Before the Doha tiff, Gilas had not lost by more than 11 as they swept the first two windows of the Asia Cup Qualifiers then shocked Latvia and went toe-to-toe with Georgia and Brazil in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Cone has his fingers crossed that the blowouts will have positive effect on the team.
“We said from the very, very beginning — we wanted it to be tough. We wanted it. I think that teams learn from adversity, teams learn when it’s really hard,” said Cone.
“That’s why you have hard practices, why you play tough opponents because that makes you better. We’re hoping that Doha experience, it’s disappointing, but we hope it makes us better.”
Unbeaten in Group B with a 4-0 record, the Philippines seeks to reassert its mastery over the Taiwanese after cruising to a 53-point win in their first encounter as they face again on Thursday, February 20, in Taipei.
Chinese Taipei, though, poses a different challenge this time around with naturalized player Brandon Gilbeck and Mohammad Gadiaga now part of the team.
After tangling with Chinese Taipei, the Filipinos will then head to Auckland to clash with New Zealand on Sunday, February 23.
“So far, this team has been really, really good about moving forward, putting the last things behind them and just keep on battling,” said Cone.
“We expect to come out and battle against Taiwan. We know they’re going to be a lot, lot better than we played them the last time,” he added. “We expect a much, much different fight this time around but I think we’re ready for them.”
Game time is 7 pm against Chinese Taipei and 10 am against New Zealand (Manila time). – Rappler.com
