Cone reflects on difference of prep time vs NZ, Australia

MANILA, Philippines — Reflecting on Gilas Pilipinas’ winless performance in window 2, coach Tim Cone took note of the big difference the team had in preparing against New Zealand and Australia.

The Philippines had at least 10 days to get the players reacquainted on offense since they all are coming from different pro leagues.

That period of preparation gave the Philippines a lot of time to come up with a solid game plan against New Zealand.

“Against New Zealand, we had an edge. We had a lot of preparation for them, 10 days together. We got the complete team four days ahead,” Cone said, shortly after the Philippines got whacked by Australia, 93-66 Sunday night at the close of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers window 2.

“We had a good idea of what we had to do. The energy was where we wanted it.” The Filipinos had several opportunities to win the game, but the Tall Blacks just proved steady down the stretch to fashion out a hard-earned 69-66 win last Thursday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

“Disappointed we didn’t pull that (win) out. I felt in the process of the two days (preparing for Australia) we didn’t have the same edge in terms of playing New Zealand. Part of that is fatigue/disappointment we didn’t win. It was more difficult getting ourselves up,” explained Cone.

“We came out and played with tremendous energy in the first half, but they wore us down in the second half. Against Australia, you have to be at the top of your game. We weren’t.”  The Philippines hung tough in the first half after trailing by just 33-38 at halftime against the Boomers, ranked sixth in the world.

But a massive 55-33 difference by the Boomers in the second half snuffed the life out of the Filipinos, silencing the fullhouse crowd inside the SM Mall of Asia Arena in the process.

The 68-year-old Cone said he, and the rest of the Gilas coaching staff will be back to the drawing boards, hoping to flesh out major lessons from the winless window 2 that could make them better heading to the third and last window this July.

The Philippines is slated to have two away games this July against New Zealand and Australia. — Richard Dy