Gilas Pilipinas during the Fiba Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers game against Hong Kong at Mall of Asia Arena. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

With a spot in the Fiba Asia Cup secured, Gilas Pilipinas will have two more games to play in the third window of the Qualifiers in February next year ahead of the main tournament in Saudi Arabia.

These won’t be no-bearing matches for national coach Tim Cone, who is looking at both games the same way he viewed the clash against winless Hong Kong at Mall of Asia Arena the night before.

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

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

But Cone has long-haul goals. And having played in 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 in 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 how to play well on the road,” he said.

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“The whole point of these windows is to get better—use the experience that we had playing in these windows and add [them] to the experience we had in the [Olympic Qualifiers]. Hopefully, that elevates our game going into the next window where now we’re going on the road, and that’s going to be important for us to learn because we’re going to have to learn how to play on the road and win on the road.”

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The approach will not only prime the Nationals for the Asia Cup in Jeddah but also for future Fiba tournaments that will have much bigger stakes. Cone, after all, built the squad on the idea that the Philippines would get back to the World Cup, and, hopefully, qualify for the Summer Olympic Games that will be next held in Los Angeles.

Gilas indeed tried to make good use of such a chance when it again battled a Hong Kong side they crushed by 30 points the last time out. Instead of the veterans creating an early gulf to allow the younger players to feast, it was the latter who helped the Nationals pull away for the rout, which fortuitously became an exercise on players’ tendencies.

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“We all come into the team with different habits, and so it’s really trying to get us all on the same page and creating the same habits so we can all play together and read each other together,” Cone said.

Keeping pool intact

Carl Tamayo was the poster boy of that effort, finishing with a team-best 16 points that went with five rebounds to come back from a mediocre outing against New Zealand. Kevin Quiambao, after sitting out the win over the Tall Blacks, chipped in eight in the scoring effort while adding five rebounds and four assists. Mason Amos also hit a triple to seal the victory for the Filipinos, who remained spotless through four 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 looking for our young guys,” Cone of Tamayo. “We want to use 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 are the superstars of this team down the road, and they’re still learning and feeling their way,” he added.

“And so this is not, as we always keep saying, this is not an all-star team. We’re not out there to showcase our individual skills, and we’ve got to come together as a team, and sometimes it takes some hard coaching, and that’s what I love about this team. They really accept that idea, and it makes it so much easier from a coaching standpoint to handle this team.”

Cone did not shoot down the possibility of reworking the talent pool in the future. But that’s something that he is not keen on doing, especially after having made significant strides with this crew this year.

“I am less likely to want to increase the pool. I think the more you increase the pool, the more teaching you have to do,” he said. “If you start expanding the pool, you have to go back to zero and start teaching all over again everything that you’ve taught.”

“It’s better if we can tighten up … Everything is going to be assessed by yearend. But hopefully, everybody—all the higher-ups—are pleased with what’s been going on, and they’re going to want to keep a continuous program going,” the seasoned mentor said.

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“We could very easily make a tweak here and there8k8, anything that could make us better moving forward.” INQ

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