MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone was the first to admit that it “wasn’t fun” playing Australia on Monday night, where the Filipinos got bamboozled, 92-49 at the close of the Window 3 of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers at the RAC Arena in Perth.
Playing without injured naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Gilas easily lost its top gunner even before tipoff.
The national team got outrebounded by the Boomers, 53-44, had more turnovers, 19-8, with the home team enjoying a massive 12-3 advantage in steals. “It wasn’t a lot of fun that’s for sure. It’s tough beating we took out there tonight,” Cone said after the game. “The problem is, this is one we’re gonna remember.” The American mentor felt the team worked really hard to prepare for the third and final window of the World Cup Asian Qualifiers’ opening round, where Gilas was hoping to at least get a split of its two road games.
The Philippines in fact, came tantalizingly close to beating New Zealand, but blinked in the dying seconds and went on to lose, 106-102 in double overtime last Friday.
“We’ve had a really outstanding trip, worked really hard for this trip, went through a tough game against New Zealand (lost in a) double overtime, then lost our best player and then had to come here (in Perth),” shared the 68-year-old Cone.
The Gilas mentor just can’t help but marvel at the Boomers, whom he described as “superior athletes.” “They really were just superior athletes. We couldn’t get to our offense,” he said. “They just did a great job defending.” With solid ball movement and excellent offense, Gilas’ defensive effort that saw the team limit Australia to just eight points in the second period, vanished when the Boomers went into high gear in the second half.
“We had one good quarter, the second quarter. We had trouble just getting the ball to halfcourt. Credit to their defense, and then their (Boomers) transition game, their ability to hit three-point shots, and that kind of snowballed on us, so that’s the result,” he added.
Brownlee, the 38-year-old Gilas naturalized player, sat out the game due to an assortment of injuries, ranging from hamstring, leg and knee.
No other Gilas player scored in double figures, with Dwight Ramos, finishing with nine points on a horrendous 4-of-16 shooting. And while Cone said they pride themselves on playing defense, they basically couldn't sustain their effort against a Boomers side that went on to post a 5-0 record at the close of window 3.
“We pride ourselves on defense and (yet) we gave up 90 something (points) tonight,” he said. “We felt OK going to halftime after playing in the second quarter.” “But starting the second half, we made some early errors, (Australia) stretched that lead to 20 points, and I think we kind of lost heart at that time,” he explained.
