By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas faced far tougher competition in the Olympic Qualifying tournament that taking on a higher-ranked New Zealand – a team that the Nationals have not beaten through their last four meetings – doesn’t seem to fret head coach Tim Cone.
Not even one bit.
But it’s not some sort of overconfidence or complacency.
For one, the veteran mentor believes it would still take so much for Gilas to take down a physical and rugged team like the Tall Blacks.
But having managed to pull off a stunning upset over then-world No. 6 Latvia during the OQT certainly convinces Cone that he has the tool to finally end the record of futility against the Kiwis.
“They are a tough, tough team, they’re a physical team. They’re a nation of rugby players, so they know how to play physically, it’s a part of their culture. It’s not personal, it’s just the way they play so that’s something we’re going to have to be conscious of,” Cone pointed out.
“But I don’t think they’ve seen a team like the team we’re assembling before so I think we’ve got a shot at beating them and we want to certainly protect our home court,” he added.
History is no doubt on the side of New Zealand but like Cone mentioned, it has not faced a tall and versatile PH five that Gilas had right now especially with June Mar Fajardo and Kai Sotto comprising the front line.
“The nice thing is Kai and June Mar are developing chemistry as they play together and it’s unusual you get two fives and allow them to play together and that is to credit to Kai’s versatility,” said Cone who hasn’t gotten the chance to fully utilize the potential of his lineup with another big man AJ Edu still expected to sit out the window.
“So it’s a really good rotation. You have two bigs that can play together and June Mar can rest and Kai gets to the five and June Mar comes back and Kai goes back to the four. Kai’s presence makes it a lot easier, AJ’s presence would make it so much better but it looks like we’re not gonna get him,” he added.
Still, the tandem of Sotto and Fajardo has posed problems to opposing teams, evident in the win against Latvia and how much the team has badly missed the services of the former during the close losses to Georgia and Brazil.
Even at the wings and guards positions, Gilas isn’t giving up much height disadvantage with Scottie Thompson, standing at 6-foot-1, being the shortest player in the lineup.
Guys like Chris Newsome, CJ Perez and Dwight Ramos are all capable of defending and running the point while Calvin Oftana, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and Justin Brownlee provide the speed and heft at the wing.
But having the tool to win doesn’t equate to sure victory, warned Cone. There’s still a lot to be done in terms of the preparations especially against New Zealand which will be playing under a new coach in Judd Flavell and will be bringing in young and athletic talents.
“The difficult part is that they do have a new coach so their system is going to change a little bit. They’re bringing over a little different personnel than they have from the past years and a little different from the World Cup that came over here in 2023 so they might be a little bit more difficult to prepare for,” said Cone.
“And they’re the 22nd ranked team in the world. That’s higher than the Georgia team that we play, Georgia’s 24th in the OQT. They are a tough team,” he believed.
