By REYNALD MAGALLON
An impressive performance from Kevin Quiambao despite the limited minutes he played in provided Gilas Pilipinas some silver lining following the tough opening day defeat to Chinese Taipei.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone said Quiambao was certainly one of the very few bright spots in the Nationals’ 95-87 loss to the Taiwanese.
Fielded only in the second half, the 24-year-old forward impressed when he tried to rally Gilas back into the game in the fourth quarter.
“Well, you know, he came out and played with a lot of energy, hit some big shots for us, but, you know, just still came up short,” Cone said of Quiambao who finished with 17 points – all of which came in the second half.
“But in terms of the way Kevin played… Kevin played very, very well and he was the highlight of the team,” Cone added.
A tough step back triple from Quiambao, even pulled Gilas within six, 74-80, with 4:29 left in the final frame but the Nationals simply couldn’t pull off consecutive defensive stops to fuel their comeback bid.
And that’s certainly a point of adjustment for Gilas, which Cone felt was overly eager in the game against Chinese Taipei, resulting in more fouls and turnovers for the team.
“I just think that last game we just wanted it too badly and that’s why we gave up so many free throws, truly uncharacteristic for us as a team,” said Cone in a separate interview after the team’s practice session ahead of the New Zealand game.
“I think we just wanted it too badly and let our enthusiasm get ahead of our execution,” he added.
