(UPDATE) GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone believes the Philippines’ hopes of securing a spot in the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Doha, Qatar, hinges on how the Filipinos will perform in the second round, which will be scheduled late this year.
The Philippines closed window 2 of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers with back-to-back defeats to New Zealand and Australia.
Gilas is currently tied with New Zealand for a share of second and third spots at Group A with identical 2-2 cards, behind unbeaten Australia’s 4-0 slate.
Guam’s 0-4 card gave the Philippines safe passage to the second round.
Cone said they need to look at the big picture moving forward though Gilas still has New Zealand and Australia as its opponents in a pair of away games this July in the third and final window.
“We also have to look at the bigger picture. We’re not gonna lose our [FIBA World Cup] berth losing to Australia and New Zealand [in window 2]. But the way we gonna have to do [it] is when we play the Middle East teams which will be [at] the end of the year,” Cone said last Sunday after the Philippines suffered a 93-66 shellacking at the hands of Australia at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“We’re gonna have to win those games [against the Middle East teams]. They will rally [to] get us into qualifying [in Doha],” he added.
Should the Philippines lose its pair of away games this July, the national team will close the opening round of the Asian Qualifiers with a 2-4 record.
Gilas then carries that mediocre record over into the second round with the Cone-coached national team set to slug it out with possibly Lebanon, Jordan and Iran or Syria.
Cone said playing against Australia and New Zealand gave them tons of learnings, which he hopes could serve them in good stead as they try to pull off kong-sized upsets when they meet the two former Oceania powerhouse basketball squads again this July.
“These are gonna be the two best teams we’ve played and [among the] two teams, Australia is obviously the best,” he said.