AS DELIGHTFUL as those epic twin victories over Jordan and Iran were, Gilas Pilipinas’ situation in FIBA World Cup Qualifiers remains the same — poised to miss the cut for Group E’s four tickets to next year’s global meet.
With 12 points on a 4-4 record, the Nationals sit fifth in the group behind unbeaten Australia (16 points, 8-0), New Zealand (14, 6-2), Iran (13, 5-3) and Jordan (13, 5-3), and ahead of Syria (10 on 2-6) going to the last two windows of Round 2.
And no matter how great it felt after stealing an 82-81 overtime win over the Falcons and 68-56 payback against old tormentor Team Melli in the fourth window at home with an all-Filipino crew, Gilas is aware of the magnitude of the task in the November and February legs.
“We were saying in the locker room that this was really a special moment but this wasn’t our goal. Our goal is to make the World Cup and all it did was give us a big step forward,” said coach Tim Cone.
“So the job is not done. We still have work to do but this was a nice step forward. Hopefully we continue to take steps forward.”
Punching a ticket to FIBA’s centerpiece competition is vital to what Mr. Cone and Co. ultimately set their sights on when they started the program two years ago — the LA Olympics in 2028.
“How special would it be for us to make the World Cup again and then have a chance, from there, to go to the Olympics. That’s really the ultimate goal,” said Mr. Cone.
The Nationals passed their big test against Jordan and Iran without Justin Brownlee, who’s out with health issues. Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Dwight Ramos, CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Scottie Thompson, Carl Tamayo and June Mar Fajardo led the gutsy home stand, putting out a collective effort and displaying the trademark Filipino fighting spirit.
“Just a great character performance by these guys in both games,” Mr. Cone said.
“After that overtime game (against Jordan), it’s easy to kind of let down coming into this one (against Iran). But they all knew the importance of it. They all knew the importance it was for them, and for the country.”
Mr. Cone marveled at the potential of Gilas, which has been posting memorable feats despite not being fielding a full-strength team in all its campaigns since January 2024 due to injuries and other reasons.
“When we have our best players, we can compete with anybody. We really feel we can, especially in Asia but we feel we can compete on a European level or Australian level. But we just haven’t been able to get all of our best players together,” said Mr. Cone.
“But once that happens, I think you’ll really see some special things, some special moments for the program.” — Olmin Leyba
