What Happened to Gilas Pilipinas? Cone Explains

A HEARTBREAKING week for Filipino diehard basketball fans as Gilas Pilipinas dropped both of its assignments against Chinese-Taipei and New Zealand to close the final window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

With back-to-back losses against Chinese Taipei on Thursday evening and a blowout loss to New Zealand on Sunday morning (Philippine Time), Gilas Pilipinas is seeded second with a 4-2 win-loss record. 

What appeared to be a dominant system is now slowly being figured out by the majority of its opponents. Most supporters were left wondering what had happened to Gilas Pilipinas.

Tim Cone Explains

Considering their participation in the Doha International Cup, the national team has lost four consecutive games in February. After victory against Qatar, they had blowout losses against Lebanon and Egypt, while New Zealand had their own in the qualifiers. 

In all fairness, Gilas Pilipinas gave their all in both qualification games. However, there are other things that might’ve hindered their preparation for a tough back-to-back, which head coach Tim Cone said.

Photo Courtesy: FIBA

“We were able to do a Doha trip before we came here just to try to get more time together and play more games, and it probably hurt us more than it helped us in terms of being ready for Taiwan and New Zealand,” Cone said.

“But we were trying to look at a bigger picture in terms of the FIBA Asia coming up, because we know we’re not going to have much time,” he added during an interview with the media.

Following the loss against the Tall Blacks, Cone emphasized the difficulties of having a limited window to prepare, which resulted in the team being together for a short period of time as well, given that certain members went straight to Qatar. 

This will be the situation for the regional event FIBA Asia Cup, which will be staged in Saudi Arabia in August. Cone underlined that the team will also have a short window of at least eight to ten days to prepare.

Kai Sotto Absence

The tactician also stated that the team’s current situation is a result of the “cumulative experiences.” While not the only cause, Kai Sotto’s absence due to an ACL injury was a significant reason in modifying their system.

“We’re trying to take each window as an experience and move it on to the next one and on to the next one and hopefully grow it and improve,” he said.

“So we’re still trying to adjust how to play without him [Kai Sotto], and that’s the things we’re going to be talking about and thinking about as we go into the FIBA Asia Cup.”

Photo Courtesy: FIBA

“This one was important for seating, so we really wanted to get that seating, but that’s now going to go to New Zealand. We’re going to have a tougher road through that Cup, and that’s something that’s uppermost in our minds as well,” Cone went on.

Indeed, it was not the best way to end a campaign that had grown into something promising. However, now is not the time to cast doubt on a system that has served the Philippines well. 

Maybe, a few changes and reassessment can return the country back to its dominant ways, despite not having Sotto for the rest of the year. It may be a hard assignment, but it is one that Cone is well-suited to.