BREAKDOWN: Gilas Falls to New Zealand as Shooting Disappears

Photo Sources: FIBA

Gilas Pilipinas suffered a second straight defeat in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, falling to New Zealand, 87-70, in a game where the Tall Blacks dominated from start to finish.

The home team took control early, capitalizing on the Philippines’ defensive scheme by attacking the drop coverage of June Mar Fajardo. New Zealand’s guards found rhythm from beyond the arc, finishing the game 13-of-33 from downtown. In contrast, Gilas struggled from deep, making just 6-of-29, and shot only 27-of-75 (36%) overall.

Adding to the Philippines’ struggles was New Zealand’s defensive game plan against Justin Brownlee. The Gilas star was limited to just eight shot attempts, though he made five of them. New Zealand’s defensive pressure, particularly their full-court schemes, disrupted Gilas’ offensive flow, forcing the ball out of Brownlee’s hands and daring other players to beat them from outside – a strategy that proved highly effective.

Despite the lopsided score, Gilas had strong support from the Filipino crowd in New Zealand, who were louder than the home fans at times. The energy in the arena was undeniable, even during frustrating moments. Chris Newsome acknowledged this postgame:

“The Filipino people show up for their basketball team. I think you saw that tonight. Even though we didn’t come out with the win you can still see that we were able to bring joy all over to those Filipino people, whether they’re here in New Zealand or back home. I think that speaks volumes to how passionate the Philippines is about their basketball.”

New Zealand also held a slight edge in second-chance points, 17-11, and forced Gilas into another slow start – an issue that plagued them in their loss to Chinese Taipei just three days prior. More on that game here.

After the loss, Gilas head coach Tim Cone reflected on the challenges of building chemistry with such limited preparation time:

*”These windows are so short. We’re together so little. We were able to do a Doha trip before we came here just to get more time together & play more games. Probably hurt us more than it helped us in terms of being ready for Taiwan and New Zealand. But we were trying to look at a bigger picture in terms of the FIBA Asia coming up, because we know we’re not going to have much time – maybe 8-10 days at most to come together and prepare for that tournament…

“We lost a really obviously key, key player for a year in terms of Kai Sotto. We’re still trying to adjust how to play without him and that’s the things we’re going to be talking about and thinking about as we go into the FIBA Asia Cup.”*

With back-to-back losses, the road ahead for Gilas remains tough. Their struggles in offensive execution and three-point shooting will need to be addressed before the next window of qualifiers. However, if one thing remains certain, it’s that Filipino fans will continue to show up, no matter where in the world Gilas plays.