MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas interim coach Tim Cone is optimistic that they can beat Jordan in the gold medal game of the 19th Asian Games men’s basketball tonight at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.
According to Cone, now that they were given a chance to play Jordan anew in the finals, he is positive that his players can bounce back from their 87-62 loss to them in the group stage game.
Jordan advanced to the gold medal round on Wednesday afternoon after scoring a 90-71 domination over Chinese-Taipei with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson leading the way with 20 points and John Bohannon adding double-double 15 points and 15 rebounds.
“We knew we were playing the best team in the tournament with Jefferson and Bohannon,” said Cone. “They’re a World Cup team. They’re the same team as in the World Cup except that they hadn’t had Bohannon.”
“Now that we have a second chance at them, I think we can beat them,” added the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings mentor. “I was hoping then we could meet them again, and it will happen now that we are in the finals.”
Following Gilas Pilipinas’ loss to Jordan last Saturday, the Philippine men’s basketball team were relegated to a tough pathway to the finals as they have to defeat Qatar (80-41), Iran (84-83) and China (77-76).
But, their semifinals win over the host China was the toughest as the Philippine men’s basketball team had to erase a 20-point third quarter deficit behind the heroics of Justin Brownlee.
“It was quite a miraculous win by us. I mean I don’t know what to say about the shots Justin Brownlee made down the stretch,” Cone said. “We could not do it without Justin doing what he does.”
“It did look that we did not have any chance whatsoever (when we were down by 20) but I am really proud of my players for continuing the battle, continuing to fight and finding their way back in,” he added.
This is the Philippine men’s basketball team’s first Asiad basketball appearance in 30 years, while it was also the country’s first podium finish since Cone led the national squad to a bronze medal finish in 1998./PN
