MANILA, Philippines — While netizens had mixed reactions following Gilas Pilipinas’ 81-55 lynching at the hands of the Korean national team in the first of their two-game Hana Bank Invitational in Suwon City on Friday, coach Tim Cone believes the experience gives them a good gauge in their Asian Games preparation.
Cone was candid enough to say “they don’t need to be good” in the invitational.
“We weren't good, no doubt. But we don't need to be good right now. We need to be good a week from now when the Asian Games start,” Cone said, when asked for his thoughts on this all PBA players-backed Gilas team.
Of course, this Gilas team is far from the national squad that scored a two-game home sweep of Jordan and Iran in their FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers fourth window last week.
Cone is well aware that this latest Gilas version’s first tuneup match against a foreign squad is a “feeling-your-way” kind of game, so the result is understandable.
“So we'll use this (Friday’s) and Sunday's game to get better. Guys are still feeling each other out, learning to play together, learning what their roles are. I believe we'll settle in and figure it out. This team is really motivated,” he explained.
Gilas will close its invitational match against the same Korean side on Sunday in the same venue.
But for sure, Pinoy fans are hoping Gilas can have a more improved performance.
Justine Baltazar had a solid showing in a Gilas uniform under Cone as he churned out a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while spiking it with 2-of-3 shooting from downtown.
Adrian Nocum, playing in his first Gilas stint, finished with 10 markers and four assists.
Cone knows this latest Gilas team don’t have the size that the Gilas-FIBA side has due to the presence of Kai Sotto, AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo.
But the remaining bigs rhat the Gilas-Asiad team has is “quick.” “No doubt, we lack size, but our bigs are quick and we'll try to use that,” he said.
Baltazar and Justin Arana, who had six points and seven rebounds against South Korea, along with Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Brandon Bates and Zavier Lucero are Cone’s bigs in the Asian Games.
Baltazar and Arana, along with RJ Abarrientos are the only holdovers from the Gilas-FIBA team.
After the invitational in Suwon, the Philippine team will head to Aichi-Nagoya, Japan and resume training.
Gilas opens its Asian Games basketball title defense on Sept. 11 against Bahrain.
