By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone was just as perplexed as everyone as to what has hit the Nationals through their first two games in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Coming in with high hopes and expectations, Gilas plunged into a series of stinging defeats – first a stunning 95-87 loss to the lower-ranked Chinese Taipei and then a 94-86 setback in what looked like a winnable game against New Zealand.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t get that. That we lost two in a row. We didn’t see that, I don’t think we all saw that coming and so we’re disappointed,” said Cone following the loss to New Zealand.
To be fair, Gilas played much better against the Tall Blacks as compared against the Taiwanese.
It limited its errors to just seven from a high of 16 against Chinese Taipei and played a more honest defense, only registering 15 fouls against New Zealand as compared to the 26 in the first game. Gilas also gave away less free throws to the Tall Blacks with 21 as compared to the mind-boggling 34 attempts it allowed Chinese Taipei.
But the same disastrous first half came haunting Gilas in the end of those two games.
“We’re obviously struggling in the first half, we’re not playing well in the first half but we’re coming back and I thought we played a really good second half but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” Cone pointed out.
After fouling out of the last game, Justin Brownlee bounced back with a 37-point explosion. So was June Mar Fajardo, who after a subpar showing in the opener, finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Dwight Ramos also remained a potent offensive weapon, supplying 19 points after putting up 16 the other day.
The defense, however, was still a suspect for Gilas as just like Chinese Taipei in the first game, New Zealand got hot from deep led by Jordan Ngatai who had a perfect 5-of-5 clip from deep to finish with 22 points.
Cone also rued Gilas gave up too many layups – none more stinging than the two drives of Taylor Britt that slammed the door on the Gilas comeback which came within three, 85-82, in the waning minutes.
“We were switching and they were slipping screens and we made the adjustment a little bit better in the second half. I thought the zone kind of surprised them a little bit,” said Cone.
“But still we gave up, in my mind, we gave up too
