Justin Brownlee leads Gilas Pilipinas anew within the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
What Gilas Pilipinas expected to be a tougher contest turned out to be one where it showed utter domination after the Nationals dismantled Chinese Taipei, 106-53, within the Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers on Sunday night.
The Filipinos played without letup at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City with Justin Brownlee and Kai Sotto starring once more before a loud home crowd that had Gilas, counting a 30-point win over Hong Kong, sweeping the tournament’s first window.
And while he was truly pleased with the result, national coach Tim Cone knows that things will only be tougher for his charges from here on out.
“This was a reasonably game tonight. We went on the market, but we didn’t go on the market to placed on a show for everyone, we didn’t go on the market to point out how good we’re,” Cone said.
“We just wish to go on the market to work, but we also realized we have now a variety of work ahead of us and a protracted strategy to go,” Cone went on within the customary winning coach’s interview.
The shape that Gilas showed was a far departure from the best way the Nationals played in the primary game of the window last Thursday in Hong Kong, where they got off to a sputtering start before carving out a 94-64 win.
Cone wanted his charges to be higher. And the best way they played against a side that was much better than they played last week sure made it seem that they responded.
Next foes
Up next for Gilas Pilipinas is the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia, in July, where the hosts, who’re ranked eighth on the earth, and Twenty third-ranked Georgia await the Filipinos within the group phase.
If anything, the Nationals made a superb account of themselves, with Brownlee leading all scorers with 26 points that went with 13 rebounds and Sotto putting up one other 18 and 10.
4 more locals chipped in no less than 10 points, because the Filipinos collectively registered 10 steals and eight blocks in a cutthroat effort against the dumbfounded visitors.
“This seems like an ending. We won’t play until one other three or 4 months. And so it form of seems like an ending for us. We wish we had another game to play next week or in a few days, but that’s not something we control,” Cone said.
“But I don’t think there’s one guy in our team not looking forward to June and getting back together and getting this thing going again.”
