By REYNALD MAGALLON
More than the outside shooting and the defense that were lacking for Gilas Pilipinas, head coach Tim Cone said there was one more thing that the Nationals were sorely missing in the tough 95-87 opening day loss to Chinese Taipei in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
It was their poise.
The veteran mentor rued that Gilas easily crumbled in the face of a rocky start and played like in a panic mode for the rest of the contest that saw the Filipinos trail by double-digits for the most part.
“Obviously we didn’t play a very good one,” said an understandably dejected Cone during the post-game press conference. “Disappointed in the way we played. We got behind early on in the game and just played on our heels the whole way like we were in a panic mode for 40 minutes,”
Gilas started out flat in the contest, digging itself an early 17-point hole, 25-8, with two minutes left in the opening frame. Justin Brownlee tried to keep Gilas afloat, firing 11 of his 19 points in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating triple that pulled Gilas within 11, 16-27 at the end of the first 10 minutes.
The Nationals did come back roaring and cut the deficit down to just four, 32-36, but that was the closest Gilas could get as defensive lapses, fouls and turnovers simply plagued the Nationals the rest of the way.
Gilas committed 16 turnovers which translated to Chinese Taipei’s 18 turnover points. In comparison, the Taiwanese only had four, which proved to be enough to withstand the Filipinos huge advantage in the rebounding department, 48-24.
“Tough loss. I think we were punched early and we didn’t punch back and the coaches can give us all the schemes to prepare us as much as we can but us on the court must take responsibilities as well,” said Gilas big man AJ Edu.
It also did not help that Chinese Taipei also played extremely well led by Ying-Chun Chen who nailed six of the team’s 12 triples to torch Gilas with 34 points.
“Chinese Taipei continued to play like they did, making the shots that they are making and they can be one of the guys that gets a medal, without a doubt. They are playing high-level basketball, extremely well-coached, Cone said of Chinese Taipei, which has now scored back-to-back wins against Gilas.
With the game over and done with, however, Cone hopes Gilas can pick up the pieces together and be ready in their next game against New Zealand.
“We’re really hurt by the loss, but we’ll see what we can do. We have to see if we could come back from this and move forward. That’s the only thing we can do at this point,” added the veteran coach.
