At A Glance
- Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone conceded that world No. 7 Australia was simply the far superior team at this point, though he believed his team could have played much better in their 84-60 loss to the Boomers.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone conceded that world No. 7 Australia was simply the far superior team at this point, though he believed his team could have played much better in their 84-60 loss to the Boomers.
“It wasn't the performance we were hoping for,“ admitted Cone as Gilas played catch up for the entirety of the contest after falling to a 29-12 deficit at the end of the first 10 minutes of the game.
“I didn't think we stepped up as much as we wanted to. No doubt the Australian athleticism and length, they are very superior. So we just had a hard time staying in front of them or challenging the threes and they moved the ball really well. They got up shots quick,“ he furthered.
For Cone, the loss came down to a mix of Gilas falling short of expectations and Australia simply overpowering them.
“I just don’t think we played all that well tonight and we have to give them credit because they imposed their will on us,“ said Cone.
Australia opened the game on fire, draining seven three-pointers to start. While Gilas managed to limit the Boomers to just four more triples the rest of the way, the early barrage was more than enough to set the tone for the blowout.
“They started off really well with three treys and they jumped on the lead and we played on our heels the rest of the game. It's always tough to be in that situation but I think we could have played better than we did tonight,“ stressed Cone.
Kevin Quiambao tried to light the fire for Gilas but Australia simply had answers every time the Filipinos were trying to make a run.
“They played at a really good pace. We tried to keep a slower pace but we did not have enough discipline to do that throughout the game,“ lamented Cone.
Gilas tried to make adjustments on the fly and threw everything including the kitchen sink to Australia but to no avail.
“We tried to keep the game at a certain type of tempo, we tried to get it into an execution type of game rather than an up-and-down. They just overwhelmed that idea. We couldn’t do it. So at some point, we tried to match them pace for pace and they just overwhelmed us.”