GILAS Pilipinas plunges into action for the first of two scheduled home games, starting with dangerous New Zealand on Thursday in their FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Game time is scheduled at 7:30 p.m., with team Philippines expecting to fill the famed sports arena to the rafters with basketball-crazy fans as Gilas tries to draw the needed morale support from the visiting Tall Blacks.
Half of the Tall Blacks, who dealt the Filipinos a 94-86 beating in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, will be back in the second window, raring to bounce back and steal a win in enemy territory after losing to the Australian Boomers by an average losing margin of just 3.5 points in window 1.
Forward Jordan Ngatai and guard Taylor Britt will be at the forefront of the New Zealand side, which is out to exorcize the ghost of its 93-89 loss to the Philippines in their FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers in November 2024 at the same SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Gilas coach Tim Cone said in facing New Zealand, they can’t afford to play with a subpar effort.
“We played New Zealand three times already, and in the last [time we faced them] at home we beat them, but down in New Zealand, they handled us well,” Cone said.
“In the FIBA Asia Cup, I thought we had an opportunity to get that game. We fell behind, came back and had a chance, but we feel we could be competitive,” he recalled.
“No doubt, they are one of the top teams in the region, so we can’t be subpar against them and expect to beat them,” he added.
Ngatai, a five-time New Zealand NBL champion, was red-hot during his last outing against Gilas in the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia cage Asia Cup joust, knocking down five triples on the way to scoring 22 points.
Britt, meanwhile, had 18 and eight assists.
Cone expects the Tall Blacks to come out swinging from the get go with Alex McNaught, Keanu Rasmussen, Reuben Te Rangi, Tyrell Harrison, Yanni Wetzell and Sam Mennenga joining forces to help Ngatai and Britt.
As of posting time, Cone has yet to name the Gilas final 12, though naturalized player Justin Brownlee will be leading the national side, which is out to win its third straight game after scoring a two-game sweep against Guam in window 1.
Big men June Mar Fajardo, Quentin Millora-Brown and AJ Edu are also expected to be in the final 12, along with Dwight Ramos, Chris Newsome, Scottie Thompson, Calvin Oftana and CJ Perez.
Other members of the pool include young turks Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao, Troy Rosario and Converge rookie Juan Gomez De Liano as well as new addition Justine Baltazar.