Fiba Asia Cup-bound Gilas focused on winning away from home

With a spot within the Fiba Asia Cup secured, Gilas Pilipinas may have two more games to play within the third window of the Qualifiers in February next 12 months ahead of the foremost tournament in Saudi Arabia.

These won’t be no-bearing matches for national coach Tim Cone, who’s taking a look at each games the identical way he viewed the clash against winless Hong Kong at Mall of Asia Arena the night before.

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“The 2 away games we’re going to have in February are going to be the hardest part. Two tough teams and each on the road. It’s going to be a tricky load for us [but] we’re already looking forward to the challenge,” Cone said of the return matches against Chinese Taipei and Recent Zealand shortly after the 93-54 blowout of Hong Kong late Sunday night.

It’d appear like there’s nothing at stake anymore for the Philippines. Gilas officially secured a berth within the Fiba Asia Cup on Monday afternoon, following Recent Zealand’s 81-64 rout of Chinese Taipei in Christchurch.

But Cone has long-haul goals. And having played within the World Cup at home, the Grand Slam coach understands the difficulties of generating success on the road.

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“We had that one opportunity within the World Cup in 2023 to play at home. But now, all of them (games) are going to be on the road. So we’ve got to learn tips on how to play well on the road,” he said.

“The entire point of those windows is to recover—use the experience that we had playing in these windows and add [them] to the experience we had within the [Olympic Qualifiers]. Hopefully, that elevates our game going into the subsequent window where now we’re happening the road, and that’s going to be necessary for us to learn because we’re going to need to learn tips on how to play on the road and win on the road.”

Fortuitous

The approach won’t only prime the Nationals for the Asia Cup in Jeddah but additionally for future Fiba tournaments that may have much greater stakes. Cone, in any case, built the squad on the concept that the Philippines would get back to the World Cup, and, hopefully, qualify for the Summer Olympic Games that shall be next held in Los Angeles.

Gilas indeed tried to make good use of such a probability when it again battled a Hong Kong side they crushed by 30 points the last outing. As an alternative of the veterans creating an early gulf to permit the younger players to feast, it was the latter who helped the Nationals draw back for the rout, which fortuitously became an exercise on players’ tendencies.

“All of us come into the team with different habits, and so it’s really attempting to get us all on the identical page and creating the identical habits so we will all play together and browse one another together,” Cone said.

Keeping pool intact

Carl Tamayo was the poster boy of that effort, ending with a team-best 16 points that went with five rebounds to come back back from a mediocre outing against Recent Zealand. Kevin Quiambao, after sitting out the win over the Tall Blacks, chipped in eight within the scoring effort while adding five rebounds and 4 assists. Mason Amos also hit a triple to seal the victory for the Filipinos, who remained spotless through 4 games and two windows.

“He got out, he hit a three-point shot, he went to the basket, he had a post-up, he had an offensive rebound … and that’s what we’re in search of our young guys,” Cone of Tamayo. “We wish to make use of their total game, and that’s the case with him, that’s the case with KQ, and even Mason.”

“I won’t stop saying this, they’re the superstars of this team down the road, and so they’re still learning and feeling their way,” he added.

“And so this just isn’t, as we all the time keep saying, this just isn’t an all-star team. We’re not on the market to showcase our individual skills, and we’ve got to come back together as a team, and sometimes it takes some hard coaching, and that’s what I really like about this team. They really accept that concept, and it makes it a lot easier from a training standpoint to handle this team.”

Cone didn’t shoot down the opportunity of reworking the talent pool in the longer term. But that’s something that he just isn’t keen on doing, especially after having made significant strides with this crew this 12 months.

“I’m less more likely to wish to increase the pool. I believe the more you increase the pool, the more teaching you might have to do,” he said. “In case you start expanding the pool, you might have to return to zero and begin teaching all all over again all the things that you simply’ve taught.”

“It’s higher if we will tighten up … Every thing goes to be assessed by yearend. But hopefully, everybody—all of the higher-ups—are pleased with what’s been happening, and so they’re going to wish to keep a continuous program going,” the seasoned mentor said.

“We could very easily make a tweak here and there, anything that might make us higher moving forward.” INQ