Tim Cone 'not happy' with Doha run as Gilas Pilipinas shifts focus to FIBA window

Tim Cone got real with his assessment of Gilas Pilipinas' struggles at the 2nd Doha International Cup, saying he wasn't too happy with the way the team performed in the tournament.

"Bottom line is, we were not happy with our play. We maybe bit off more than we could chew with this Doha trip," Cone told GMA News Online in a message hours after they wrapped up the four-team pocket tournament early Monday.

"We didn't respond well to the adversity of the long trip and the three games in a row. We were sluggish throughout and our usual ball movement was lacking."

Gilas did open its campaign on a strong note, rallying late and overcoming a double-digit deficit to turn back host Qatar en route to a narrow 74-71 win last Saturday.

READ MORE | Gilas Pilipinas in the 2nd Doha International Cup

That game saw Dwight Ramos lead the way with 15 points while June Mar Fajardo and Justin Brownlee posted 12 and 10 markers apiece.

But the Filipinos just couldn't get their shots going in their next two matches opposite world no. 29 Lebanon and no. 38 Egypt.

Against Lebanon, Gilas allowed the Lebanese side to unleash a 25-4 blast bridging the third and fourth periods as the latter established a 65-50 cushion. They never looked back since then as they held Gilas to only six points in the final frame on the way to a 75-54 result.

Gilas was unable to bounce back in its final game against Egypt, sustaining a lopsided 86-55 loss to go 1-2 in the three-day event that was aimed to prepare the squad for the third and final window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Looking at the positives, the veteran tactician admitted they did pick up lessons from the Doha trip, which included matchups against some Middle Eastern squads. He hopes they can apply some of these once they go up against their FIBA opponents Chinese Taipei and New Zealand in a pair of away games.

“But we did achieve the goal of playing the Middle Eastern teams and seeing the problems they present,” Cone added.

“They were physical and we'll need to adjust to that physicality in the future. We wanted this trip to be hard and perhaps it was a little harder than we anticipated.”

Cone said their sight is now set on the games that matter more.

“Now we move on to the real games, the ones that count. We'll see if this experience helped us for our Window.”

Gilas Pilipinas, which is already qualified for the Asia Cup proper, takes on Chinese Taipei first on Thursday before squaring off with a full-strength New Zealand on Sunday.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News