By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone conceded that the world No.7 Australia was simply the far more superior team at this point although veteran mentor believed his team could have played much better in the Nationals 84-60 loss to the Boomers.
“It wasn’t the performance we were hoping for,“ admitted Cone as Gilas played catch up for the entirety of the contest after falling to a 29-12 deficit at the end of the first 10 minutes of the game.
“I didn’t think we stepped up as much as we wanted to. No doubt the Australian athleticism and length, they are very superior. So we just had a hard time staying in front of them or challenging the threes and they moved the ball really well. They got up shots quick,“ he furthered.
For Cone, the loss was simply a combination of Gilas not playing at par to how they are expected to play and Australia just proving to be on a league of its own in the continental level.
“I just don’t think we played all that well tonight and we have to give them credit because they imposed their will on us,“ said Cone.
Australia opened the contest by nailing seven triples. Gilas limited the Boomers to just four three-point makes the rest of the way but the first quarter barrage of triples were already more than enough to set the tone for the rout.
“They started off really well with three treys and they jumped on the lead and we played on our heels the rest of the game. It’s always tough to be in that situation but I think we could have played better than we did tonight,“ stressed Cone.
Kevin Quiambao tried to light the fire for Gilas but Australia simply had answers every time the Filipinos were trying to make a run.
“They played at a really good pace. We tried to keep a slower pace but we did not have enough discipline to do that throughout the game,“ lamented Cone.
Gilas tried to make adjustments on the fly and threw everything including the kitchen sink to Australia but to no avail.
“We tried to keep the game at a certain type of tempo, we tried to get it into an execution type of game rather than an up-and-down. They just overwhelmed that idea. We couldn’t do it. So at some point, we tried to match them pace for pace and they just overwhelmed us.”
