Two games into the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, and Gilas Pilipinas have scored the sixth-most points—173 total, or 86.5 a game—among 16 nations. But they are a woeful 0-2 and in need of a win against Iraq on Saturday if they are to continue with their journey in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
So, what went wrong?
Poor starts have been a bane for the national team for sure. And a lot of that has been due to Gilas Pilipinas’ porous, oftentimes uninspired defense that has surrendered one open shot too many—and against two teams, Chinese Taipei and New Zealand, known for their dead-eye shooting. In those two losses, the Philippines allowed 47.3% shooting overall for both teams and 47.2% from beyond the arc (12-for-27 vs. Chinese Taipei and 13-for-26 for New Zealand).
Even after picking up their defensive intensity in the second half of both games, Gilas Pilipinas still kept giving up open looks, mostly off missed assignments and a few after uncollared loose balls. Worse, those defensive lapses came at the most inopportune of times—when the nationals were making a run and trying to build some momentum.
Gilas Pilipinas Looking to Make ‘Mental’ Adjustments on Defense
Gilas coach Tim Cone, known to preach tight defense in the PBA, knows all too well that his wards haven’t particularly played well on that side of the ball. But he is certainly hoping it changes moving forward.
“We have to identify shooters a little better. We didn’t do that in the first half, but I thought we did a much better job in the second half,” Cone told reporters in the aftermath of the New Zealand game. “[Jordan] Natai had some open looks in the first half, and we knew coming out he was gonna be a shooter and we had to cover him—and we still didn’t cover him.”
Indeed, Gilas lost track of Natai several times, including twice early in the first quarter when he was left wide open on the short left corner on two successive possessions. The result? Six quick points for the Tall Blacks. Natai again broke free twice early in the second frame, jogging into a pair of open threes in transition on back-to-back possessions to give New Zealand a 35-26 advantage. In all, the Oceania powerhouse shot 9-for-14 from deep in the first half to build what would turn out to be an insurmountable 18-point cushion.
The nationals will have to clean up their act no doubt and avoid such glaring lapses on defense—and for Cone, it will take some mental adjustments to get that defense to a more acceptable level.
“To me it’s just more mental adjustments than anything else. It’s just something that we gotta continue to talk about, work on, and try to figure out why teams are shooting so well…,” he pointed out. “Hopefully we’ll turn that around, we have to, and again, it’s all gonna be about mental [adjustments]. Getting loose balls, getting those rebounds and not allowing the extra possessions to get three-point shots up.”
Cone better pray his wards start making those mental adjustments ASAP, or else this Gilas squad might be headed to a bottom-three finish in this tournament.
