By REYNALD MAGALLON
Now it’s time to walk the talk for Gilas Pilipinas.
National team head coach Tim Cone had declared the teams intent to win it all and that resolve will be put to an immediate test when Gilas takes on a dangerous and vastly improved Chinese Taipei squad in their opening assignment in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the wee hours of Wednesday, Aug. 6.
Tip-off of the clash is at 2 a.m. in Manila with the Nationals looking to set the tone for the tournament with a victory against a Taiwanese team that defeated them on their home turf during the qualifiers.
But things are different this time as they are now battling on neutral grounds although the entire King Abdullah Sports City Stadium is anticipated to become some sort of a home court for Gilas with the overseas Filipino workers expected to come in droves.
On top of that, the Nationals are looking pretty sharp this time as compared to their last meeting in the qualifiers where Chinese Taipei came out with a 91-84 victory to end the Philippines’ 12-year win streak against the Taiwanese.
Gilas has swept its two tuneup games ahead of the continental showpiece, first taking down Macau, 103-98, and then Jordan with a 75-61 triumph.
“We’ve done a lot of work. We have watched a lot of videos so we feel we are prepared in that respect but (we want to) actually walk the talk. We did a lot of talking but we got to walk it,” said Cone.
Though the world ranked No.34 Gilas remains the favorite in the contest, Cone isn’t being complacent against the 73rd ranked Chinese Taipei especially after it added formidable young talents.
“Taiwan beat us last time we played them, and they added two young Division One players and the Hinton brothers. Those guys are making an impact on that team. They definitely have the personnel. It wasn’t a fluke that they beat us,” Cone said of Chinese Taipei.
Expected to lead the way and prevent another loss from happening is Justin Brownlee who will be backstopped by guys like Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson and Calvin Oftana.
AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo will hold the fort in the absence of Kai Sotto while young guns Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo along with CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Japeth Aguilar and Jamie Malonzo should be ready to contribute when their numbers are called.
