Thrilled for home gig

Gilas hopes to end losing spell vs kiwis

MANILA, Philippines — After its strong showing against European and South American opponents overseas, Gilas Pilipinas has set its next mission: Take down regional power New Zealand in Manila.

The 37th-ranked Nationals will face the No. 21 Tall Blacks in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in November in the first of two home assignments for this window that also includes a later showdown with Hong Kong.

“We haven’t really done too much (for the November window) at this point. We’ll spend more time the closer we get. But I obviously watched New Zealand play because they’re one of the world’s top-ranked teams,” coach Tim Cone said in a press briefing yesterday.

“They’re not a huge team in terms of having 7-footers but they are tall across the board. They have 6-8, 6-9 forwards and their guards are 6-5, 6-6. So they’re really even across the line and they’ll really cause problems.”

The Philippines is on a nine-year losing spell against the Kiwis, yielding in their Asia Cup group duel, 75-92, and their two games in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, 63-88 and 60-106, between June and July of 2022.

Cone’s crew, fresh from its semifinal stint in the Olympic Qualifiers in Riga, Latvia highlighted by a massive upset No. 6 Latvia and fighting losses to No. 23 Georgia and No. 12 Brazil, is bent on beating NZ for the first time since the 2015 Jones Cup, 92-88 (overtime).

“Historically, they (Tall Blacks) have been a really, really tough team for us to match up to,” said Cone. “But we haven’t really played them with Kai (Sotto) and June Mar (Fajardo) playing together and having a naturalized player like Justin (Brownlee). I think we can match up to them a whole lot better this time around.”

What’s giving the Nationals added motivation is the presence of adoring supporters.

“We played out in Latvia (OQT) and Hong Kong (previous window of the AC Qualifiers) but what thrills the guys most is coming together and playing in front of our home fans.

“We’re going to play New Zealand here and it’s going to be a really tough game but we’re hoping we can surprise them and do that in front of our home fans,” Cone said.

Meanwhile, Cone said he is working to get Sean Chambers in as full-time assistant after borrowing the FEU mentor for Gilas’ OQT campaign.

“He was my player for 13 years and he knows me inside and out, I know him inside and out. He’s a genuinely fantastic person to be around and the players just love being around Sean listening to him. I think he’s just going to add a lot to the program and I’m hoping he can be a permanent fixture,” he said.

Notes: Magnolia acquired high-flying Zav Lucero from NorthPort as it shipped playmaker Jio Jalalon and big man Abu Tratter to the Batang Pier. The swap gained approval from the PBA trade committee a day after the draft that saw the Hotshots pick Jerom Lastimosa....Ginebra, not done with roster tweaks after trading for fresh legs Stephen Holt and Isaac Go over the weekend, got frontliner Ben Adamos from NP in exchange for Sidney Onwubere.