By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone reflected on what transpired for the national team in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, noting that the 95-87 loss to Chinese Taipei in the first game somewhat defined the rest of their campaign in the continental tiff.
The Nationals finished at the seventh spot in the final ranking following a quarterfinals exit at the hands of two-time defending champion Australia, which routed Gilas, 84-60.
Gilas could have avoided an early collision course with the Boomers if only they managed to win their game against the Taiwanese. Not only that the loss put the Nationals on a longer more difficult route in the knockout stages, it also took away the confidence of the national team, Cone admitted.
“We knew this going into the tournament. We talked about it from the first moment we met. That the Chinese Taipei game would be the most important game of the tournament. We just came out too gigil giving up 36 free throws and that was the killer,“ said Cone
“We didn’t play the defense we expected to play. And that got us on our heels for the whole rest of the tournament. It really knocked our confidence off,“ he added.
Gilas wound up with a 2-3 record in tie with Lebanon which finished ninth place after losing to New Zealand. Chinese Taipei ended up fifth and South Korea sixth.
After the loss to the Taiwanese, woes simply compounded for the Nationals as they never really had a good start to a game except the qualification match against Saudi Arabia.
Gilas trailed big against New Zealand before eventually folding to a 95-86 defeat. It had the same slow start against Iraq though it managed to pull off a 66-57 win. It survived a vastly improved Saudi Arabia, 95-88, to set up the clash against Australia.
“We just didnt play as well as I hoped. We didn’t play within the vision. I guess that is the best way to put it,“ said Cone.
“We had a vision on how we are supposed to play and we didn’t quite develop the discipline that we needed to play in that stage and that was, to me, the disappointing thing,“ he added.
