MANILA, Philippines — The whirlwind first week of Gilas practice didn’t lack the drama surrounding Kai Sotto and Quentin Millora-Brown’s participation in the coming window 2 of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.
At the close of the team’s first five days of practice, the 7-foot-3 Sotto has declared his unavailability for Gilas when the national team faces former Oceania basketball powerhouse teams New Zealand and Australia.
On the other hand, Millora-Brown and his camp managed to thresh things out with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which paved the way for the 6-foot-10 Fil-American to join Gilas’ practice late last week.
Amid the drama on the side, national coach Tim Cone said one thing sure, the Gilas players are locked in and are determined to “protect the homecourt” against the visiting Tall Blacks and the Boomers, when they play them on February 26 and March 1, respectively at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
“I think the biggest concern for the players right now is protecting the homecourt. That’s really, really important to them. They want to show in front of the fans, (and) there’s always a certain pride playing at home,” Cone said in his appearance last Saturday at the Power and Play sports program of former PBA commissioner Noli Eala.
“So that makes this particular window extremely important fopr these guys.” Cone added that while the Filipinos are facing two strong basketball squads in the second window, he believes the team is determined to put up a solid fight.
“I think they are really keyed up, ready to go, like what I’ve been seeing a couple of days,” said the PBA’s all-time winningest coach.
“We had the best practice today, and in fact, we now have four more practices to go before we get ready.”