Gilas Falls to Australia: The Good, the Bad, and the Hopeful
Gilas’ journey in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup has come to an end.
After pulling off back-to-back victories against Iraq and Saudi Arabia, our national squad got stymied by a powerhouse Australia team that is currently ranked no. 7 in the world. When the dust settled inside King Abdullah Sports City, Australia ended up with the lopsided 84-60 victory to advance to the semifinals.
The loss stings, yes, but the learning should never cease as our Gilas program continues to pursue improvement in an extremely competitive region. Make that continent. Wait, what am I saying—the whole darn basketball world is always grinding!
Our boys gave it their all on Wednesday, but they just couldn’t match the skill level and the physical gifts of the Aussies. Let’s take a look at what went wrong, what went right, and what our national team can tinker with moving forward.
The Three-Point Problem
In boxing parlance, Gilas got hit with a flurry of haymakers in the very first round.
Showing no patience in their bid to control the game, the Aussies knocked down one three-pointer after another in the opening 10 minutes. Australia, in fact, converted on their first five attempts from outside and finished with a stellar 54.5% shooting clip from deep in the first quarter.
Australian-American forward Jaylin Galloway made four three-pointers. Gilas made just one. Let that sink in.
Don’t let the 36.7% percentage for the entire game fool you: Though Australia’s shooters eventually cooled off in the second half, the damage had been done. The 29-12 start carved out by the squad from Down Under created a cushion that insulated them from Gilas’ attempts to go on a run in the remaining three quarters.
Is Australia that good from the outside? Yes, but it would have helped if Gilas had done a better job of finding bodies in transition and committing to closeouts in the halfcourt. On the other hand, 33 of Gilas’ 69 field goal attempts came from rainbow territory. Sadly, only eight of these outside shots went in. That’s just not going to cut it in this knockout playoffs stage.
Moving forward, I think it would behoove the entire Filipino basketball community—from the grassroots to the national team—to adapt to the culture of transition threes. You see, the blitzkrieg that ultimately secured victory for Australia tonight was the same onslaught wielded by the Korean squad that humbled DLSU and UP in the recently concluded WUBS. If we want to keep up with international trends in this sport, we should teach our players how to harness and defend threes launched during fastbreaks and secondary breaks.
Iba Pa Rin ang Matangkad
Sometimes, blowout losses emphasize the obvious. No one needed a tape measure or a set of binoculars to realize that Australia maximized their height (and width) advantage over Gilas in this game.
On the defensive glass, the Aussies were particularly stingy, cleaning up Gilas’ misses to the tune of 38 rebounds and giving up just 10 offensive rebounds all game long. The Pinoy cagers, meanwhile, collected just 26 defensive boards, partly because Australia was more efficient with their shooting and partly because, well, there were instances when staring was more prevalent than hustling. On more than one occasion, Gilas players were eyeing the ball instead of actually going for it. Not acceptable at all.
Small wonder, then, that Australia doubled Gilas’ output in terms of second chance points (20 for the former, just 10 for the latter). Even in this category, the Aussies’ top-tier execution was on point as there were multiple instances in which they didn’t even put the ball on the floor after securing the rebound. These rebounds led straight to tip-ins and put-backs that our boys simply couldn’t reach.
Let’s call back to that first point and draw a connection here. Why did Gilas jack up so many threes when their collective skill set is far more versatile than that? It’s because the Aussies were big and agile enough to stay in front of their man, thus taking away easy paint touches and limiting Gilas’ offense to the perimeter.
I do believe Tab Baldwin when he said eons ago that it’s “rubbish” to think the Philippines doesn’t have enough tall, skilled players. We do, and we might have to consider getting some more multifaceted bigs in upcoming FIBA cycles.
Speaking of multifaceted bigs…
Kevin Quiambao Represents Hope
On this night, there was just one Gilas player who looked really comfortable on offense. You know, like he’s been in this situation many times before.
Let me put it like this. Pang-international talaga si Kevin Quiambao.
When you think about why KQ was the lone player in our lineup who made more than he missed from three-point territory, it’s because his style lends itself well to FIBA competition. His release is both quick and high, and he’s mastered some nice little tricks to enhance his shot’s effectiveness (such as stepbacks and impeccable footwork as he comes off screens). In other words, Quiambao didn’t get lucky in a game filled with more bricks than a LEGO convention. The former King Archer shot 5-for-8 against Australia precisely because he honed his game this way.
The best part? This dude turned 24 just four months ago. Quiambao, who led all Gilas scorers with 17 points against the Aussies, has several more years of FIBA tournaments ahead of him. If there’s anyone who deserves to be a core component of Gilas for the foreseeable future, it’s KQ.
Now that we’re talking about “core” things, isn’t it about time to revisit the core group established by coach Tim Cone back in January 2024? We’ve written (and podcasted) about this many times already, but the fact is, some of these core players are in closer proximity to the end—rather than the beginning—of their Gilas careers. That includes our beloved Justin Brownlee, who turned 37 earlier this year.
Losing Justin Noypi would certainly be a huge blow, but that’s basketball for you: perpetually moving, always evolving, forever presenting an opportunity to improve. The loss to Australia has put an end to our aspirations for gold in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, but the brilliance of youngsters like Quiambao reminds us that Gilas’ journey remains an exciting trek for years to come.
