MANILA (Philippines) - The Philippines won't just be out to protect home court when New Zealand comes over for Window 2 of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
I think we got a shot at beating them.
In the language of many basketball fans in reference to the famous quote of His Airness in The Last Dance documentary, Gilas are taking it personally.
"We want to certainly protect our home court, and we want to show ourselves to the Gilas fans around the country," said Coach Tim Cone. "These are all very, very important to us. So, I really expect us to be ready and motivated to play."
One of the highly anticipated matchups of the November window is set this Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, with the Filipino dribblers keen on taking down a long-time tormentor in this battle between the 2-0 teams of Group B.
These proud men's programs have previously met four times in FIBA competitions, and all those meetings witnessed the Tall Blacks come out victorious.
The first time they faced each other was in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2016, at the same venue where they're set to face this week. New Zealand left with the 89-80 triumph in the bag, beating their former coach in Tab Baldwin.
I don't think they've seen a team like the team we're assembling.
Their next two encounters would then take place during the First Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers in 2022. The Tall Blacks totally had their way on both instances as they decimated Gilas by an average margin of 35.5 points.
There'd hardly be any difference in the result when they met in the 2022 Asia Cup as the Philippine team got blown out, 92-75, in a Group Phase affair.
Needless to say, New Zealand would love to keep the number of their Southeast Asian counterparts. A win would mean so much for the team as well, given that they are presently in the midst of transition as Judd Flavell has taken over as head coach.
For the uninitiated, Flavell is now in charge of the Tall Blacks after Pero Cameron, his former teammate during their time in the national squad, stepped down and took an offer to coach the Ningbo Rockets of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Cone acknowledges that it would be challenging to go up against a team that may probably have a new system in place scouting-wise, but he finds no excuse whatsoever for his side to not be as prepared as they can be for the fixture.
"That's where the difficult part is," he said. "They do have a new coach, and so their system's gonna change a bit. They're bringing a little different personnel than they have in the past years and from the World Cup when they came over here in 2023."
"They might be a little more difficult to prepare for. But social media, and video, and Youtube, there's so much information there to be gathered," continued the 66-year-old bench tactician. "And we're in the midst of gathering that."
"We've got videos out to the players already ... we've sent videos to them about their players and about their games, so our players are studying that already."
Cone is hardly fazed, too, with the fact that they're facing the No. 22 team in the FIBA World Ranking, presented by NIKE. It should no longer be a surprise, for he knows a thing or two in battling - and beating - teams ranked higher than his unit.
Because that's the situation he and Gilas got into in the FIBA OQT in Latvia last July, yet they sent shockwaves by beating the hosts - 6th in the world - before giving Georgia the fits to reach the Semi-Finals, where they fell short versus Brazil.
Thus, the confidence on his part that the present-day Gilas is capable of breaking the New Zealand curse that has long plagued the program.
"They are a tough, tough team; they are a physical team," Cone said. "They're a nation of rugby players, so they know how to play physically. It's part of their culture. It's not personal, it's just the way they play. So, that's something we have to be conscious of."
"But I don't think they've seen a team like the team we're assembling," added the veteran internationalist. "I think we got a shot at beating them."
FIBA