As Gilas Pilipinas caps off the opening window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers at the top of Group A, head coach Tim Cone now looks toward the tough task of facing Asian powerhouses in the tournament’s upcoming window.
Following a commanding 87-46 victory in Guam last Friday and now a 95-71 win at home, the Philippines exits the first window with a 2-0 record.
However, for the national team’s head coach, tonight’s triumph at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym was far from Gilas’ best form.
“We didn’t play our best game tonight, especially on the defensive end. But bottomline was we took care of business,” Cone said.
No matter the scoreline, though, he asserts that the most important part will always be the outcome.
“Whether it was a one-point win, 20-point win, or 40-point win, it really didn’t matter except that we won.”
Now, the Philippines will look to defend home turf once again as they take on New Zealand on February 26 and Australia on March 1 next year, both at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Even with the gap between windows, the tenured tactician notes the difficulty in facing world-ranked 6th Australia and 25th New Zealand. Still, Cone asserts that familiarity and the home crowd may benefit them moving forward.
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“It’s a long ways away still, but we have our eyes on it. We know New Zealand pretty well, we played them a number of times. We played Australia in the Asia Cup, we know what’s ahead of us,” he added.
“We know it’s not gonna be easy, but we’re hoping that playing at home, that’ll make a difference for us.”
Gilas previously faced Australia back in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals, where they took a 60-84 beating to the Boomers.
Meanwhile, although registering a historic 93-89 win against New Zealand in the Asia Cup Qualifiers, they failed to repeat this success in their final meeting, falling 70-87 to close out their qualification stint.
The glaring difference between both matches against the Tall Blacks: Kai Sotto. Having played without their star bigman, Cone looks forward to Sotto returning for duty in February following his recovery from his ACL injury.
“With Kai coming back, hopefully in February, there’s a chance that now we can let Japeth retire,” Cone quipped.
The tenured Gilas coach also gave credit to Guam in today’s win, as he hopes that the Philippines can learn from the character that their opponents showed throughout this window.
“For them to come in here after a 41-point loss, and play the way they did tonight, they showed a lot of character. And I just hope we can continue to show that kind of character as we move forward.”
