New Zealand’s main man Jordan Ngatai during its clash against Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup. –FIBA PHOTO
For the second straight game in the Fiba Asia Cup, Gilas Pilipinas was left to rue its struggles defending the three-point shot–an issue coach Tim Cone looks to address with his team on the brink of an early exit.
“It’s more of a mental adjustment than anything else,” Cone said after Gilas’ 94-86 loss to New Zealand in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “It’s just something we got to talk about and work on and try to figure out why teams are shooting so well [against us.]”
READ: Tim Cone on Gilas’ 0-2 start: I don’t think we all saw that coming
Gilas’ woes continued against the Tall Blacks, who knocked down 13 out of 26 attempts, including a perfect 5-of-5 clip from one of their reliables in Jordan Ngatai.
Ngatai finished with a team-high 22 points, bouncing back from scoring just three on 1-of-4 from deep in New Zealand’s 100-78 win over Iraq.
It was the carbon copy of what Gilas experienced two nights prior against Chinese-Taipei, which hit 12-of-27 triples on the way to a 95-87 victory.
READ: Gilas Pilipinas will ride on stops to meet Fiba Asia goal
In that game, it was guard Chen Ying-Chun who was the thorn in the side of Gilas, making six three-point conversions to finish with 34 points and paving the way for the Taiwanese triumph.
Ironically, Chen went scoreless the next game, but Chinese-Taipei was hardly affected in drubbing Iraq, 87-60.
So what does Cone think Gilas needs to do to address the problem as it fights for survival on Saturday against Iraq, and for the rest of the tournament if it advances further?
“We just have to identify shooters better,” Cone said. “We didn’t do that very well in the first half [against New Zealand]. I thought we did a much better job in the second half. Ngatai had some open looks in the first half, and we knew coming in that he’s gonna be a shooter and we had to cover him. And we still didn’t cover him.”
Gilas plays Iraq on Saturday, with Cone hoping that the lessons of both defeats can result in forcing clanks rather than allowing swishes.
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“Hopefully we can turn it around. We have to,” he said. “It’s gonna be about mental, getting looseballs, and not allowing extra possessions to get three-point shots up.”
