MANILA, Philippines — Gilas coach Tim Cone said Saturday night’s 109-78 demolition of Kazakhstan was the Philippine team he envisioned to see in the 20th Asian Games as the national squad defend the country’s men’s basketball crown.
Using its quickness and shooting against the physical Kazakhs, the Filipinos played better as a unit, burying the Central Asian squad with 16 threes en route to the 31-point rout, while booking their first win in the quadrennial games.
“Just a great bounce back win. Coach Richard (del Rosario) and the staff did a great job preparing for the game, and then Richard managed the game perfectly,” Cone told the Manila Times after the game.
“We played the way the staff originally envisioned this team to play. They played loose and fast and defended at a high level,” he added.
The American commended Robert Bolick for shaking off a knee injury he sustained while Gilas was warming up for its game versus Bahrain last Friday.
“Berto shook off his injury and played a great second quarter,” he said.
The NLEX superstar, who went scoreless in Gilas’ 85-89 loss to Bahrain, led Gilas to a flying start as he scored 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting from deep to help the national team erect an early 38-17 lead against Kazakhstan in the first half.
From there, Jerrick Ahanmisi blew the game wide open after accounting for five of Gilas’ seven three-point shots in the fourth quarter en route to the huge bounce-back victory.
“Jerrick put Kazakhstan to sleep in the fourth quarter. But mostly, it was a great team win where everyone to a man contributed,” shared Cone.
The Gilas mentor however, admitted the Philippines can get too high with the big win against Kazakhstan, knowing the team has mighty China at the close if the group stage on Monday.
“Now it's time to move on and focus on China. No time to celebrate,” he said.
