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New Zealand head coach Judd Flavell and veteran guard Corey Webster both take notice of Gilas Pilipinas’ size as the Tall Blacks fall to the Filipinos for the first time
MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas has upgraded its frontline in recent years and teams have noticed.
New Zealand head coach Judd Flavell and veteran guard Corey Webster both mentioned the Filipinos’ size as the Tall Blacks absorbed a stunning 93-89 loss to the Philippines in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers on Thursday, November 21.
It marked the first time the Philippines beat the Kiwis after losing in all four of their previous FIBA encounters by an average of 24.3 points.
“The Philippines are a very, very polished outfit and they play a very structured offense. [They are] very big, very physical,” said Flavell.
Kai Sotto used his 7-foot-3 frame to good use as he turned in arguably his finest performance for the national team in a game where the Tall Blacks keyed on star center June Mar Fajardo.
Sotto finished with a near triple-double of 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists on top of 2 blocks and 2 steals to help the Philippines stay unbeaten and claim solo top spot in Group B with a 3-0 record.
Naturalized star Justin Brownlee also gave New Zealand headaches as he chalked up game highs of 26 points and 11 rebounds to go with 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.
As a team, the Philippines dominated the boards, hauling down 44 rebounds to the Kiwis’ 31 and winning the points in the paint battle by a mile, 48-16.
“They’re big, they’ve got a lot of bigs that are tough under the hoop, and they seal hard and they get to their positions,” said Webster, whose 25-point, 5-assist outing went down the drain.
“We try to make a point of limiting that and try to get in the lanes and help out with that, but it is a tough team. They’ve got some great players and they stepped up and made shots at the end of the game tonight.”
New Zealand, a team ranked No. 22 in the world and the bronze medalist in the last Asia Cup, dropped to 2-1. – Rappler.com
