MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas plunged back to work with 13 of its 15 pool players in attendance for the start of its training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna on Friday, November 15.
Justin Brownlee and Carl Tamayo will soon join the national team, which is gearing up for a pair of home games against New Zealand and Hong Kong in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Tamayo will arrive on Friday night as he takes a break from his stint in the Korean Basketball League with the Changwon LG Sakers. Brownlee, meanwhile, suffered a stomach flu.
Already inside the camp are June Mar Fajardo, Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, Japeth Aguilar, AJ Edu, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Ange Kouame, Jamie Malonzo, Kevin Quiambao, and Mason Amos.
The Nationals will have only less than a week to get ready before they tangle with visiting New Zealand and Hong Kong on November 21 and 24, respectively, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
According to head coach Tim Cone, the camp in Laguna will run until November 18, with the team set to practice at the Mall of Asia Arena on November 19 and 20.
Despite the short preparation window, Cone believes the time the team spent together during the first window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers in February and the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in July will come in handy.
“It is always challenging. But we keep talking about the continuity of the program and the preparation that we have is cumulative,” said Cone in a press conference on Wednesday, November 13.
“Now we come in, we feel the key that we want is to try to elevate our game every time we come into a new window.”
Unbeaten in Group B after blowing out Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei in the first window, the Philippines will have its mettle tested by world No. 22 New Zealand, which also totes a 2-0 record.
The Tall Blacks are unbeaten against the Filipinos in FIBA competition, winning all of their four encounters by an average of 24.3 points.
But Cone and Gilas hope to end that skid, with the team finally turning the corner following a historic title run in the Asian Games last year and an inspired campaign in the OQT, where the Philippines reached the semifinals.
“We want to be better from the first window to the second, from the second to the third, and then the third going into next year,” said Cone.
“We want to continually elevate as we become more familiar with each other, we have more practice time with each other, we have more video work with each other, and we have more game experience with each other.” – Rappler.com
