Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone was just as baffled as everyone else by what has plagued the Nationals in their first two games of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Entering the tournament with high hopes and expectations, Gilas suffered a string of stinging defeats -- first, a stunning 95-87 loss to lower-ranked Chinese Taipei, followed by a 94-86 setback in a winnable game against New Zealand.

“We're disappointed that we didn't get that. That we lost two in a row. We didn't see that, I don't think we all saw that coming and so we're disappointed,” said Cone following the loss to New Zealand.

To be fair, Gilas played much better against the Tall Blacks than they did against the Taiwanese.

It limited its turnovers to just seven, a significant improvement from the 16 committed against Chinese Taipei. The team also played more disciplined defense, recording only 15 fouls against New Zealand compared to 26 in the opening game.

Additionally, Gilas gave up fewer free throws to the Tall Blacks — just 21 attempts, a marked drop from the staggering 34 it allowed Chinese Taipei.
However, a similarly disastrous first half came back to haunt Gilas in both games.

“We're obviously struggling in the first half, we're not playing well in the first half but we're coming back and I thought we played a really good second half but we just couldn't get over the hump,” Cone pointed out.

After fouling out in the previous game, Justin Brownlee bounced back with a 37-point explosion. June Mar Fajardo also responded, putting up 11 points and four rebounds following a subpar showing in the opener.

Even Dwight Ramos remained a consistent offensive threat, adding 19 points after scoring 16 the day before.

However, defense continued to be a concern for Gilas. Much like Chinese Taipei in the first game, New Zealand caught fire from beyond the arc -- led by Jordan Ngatai, who went a perfect 5-of-5 from deep en route to 22 points.

Cone also lamented Gilas’ inability to stop easy baskets, particularly the two drives by Taylor Britt that shut the door on a late Gilas rally, which had cut the deficit to just three, 85-82, in the closing minutes.

“We were switching and they were slipping screens and we made the adjustment a little bit better in the second half. I thought the zone kind of surprised them a little bit,” said Cone.

“But still we gave up, in my mind, we gave up too many layups throughout the game and that's something we've got to do,” he added.