The coming FIBA Asia Cup 2025 window will be a test for Gilas Pilipinas to apply what they learned from last July’s FIBA OQT.
In early July, Gilas Pilipinas shocked the international basketball community by stunning fifth-ranked Latvia and losing by a whisker to 25th-ranked Georgia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Gilas lost to eventual qualifiers Brazil in the semifinals, but they had already made history by becoming the first Philippine men’s basketball team to win an OQT game and advance to the semifinals.
On Thursday, this version of Gilas Pilipinas will play together for the first time in an official FIBA game since the loss to Brazil when they take on the New Zealand Tall Blacks in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena.
For Gilas Pilipinas guard Chris Newsome, he hopes the team can take the valuable lessons they learned in Riga and apply them against a team that has imposed its will on different Gilas iterations over the last eight years.
“Yeah, definitely,” Newsome told The GAME in an exclusive interview when asked if they were feeling confident about their chances against both New Zealand and Hong Kong. “With our last stint and how we left the Olympic qualifiers, I think it was very bitter, but at the same time, it was very encouraging and positive for us knowing that we’ve been together.
“That was just our second window playing together and we’ve already accomplished things that no one really thought that we would be able to accomplish on the world stage. And that just allows us to take our confidence to the next level.”
Newsome feels that this Gilas team has a special bond, considering everything they have gone through since Tim Cone took over in September of last year.
“Just being familiar with one another, we can really build that relationship and that bond,” he said. “And I really feel like this group of Gilas, we’re really close and we really consider each other brothers.”
Cone’s decision to just go with a fixed group of players, as opposed to a large pool, has helped with both the bonding and jelling of the team, Newsome said.
“When we get together it makes it that much easier because we’re already familiar with one another. We’re familiar with the system and it kind of shortens that learning curve just a little bit which is important because every practice matters. Every bit of experience that you can get, it makes a big difference. But seeing what we were able to do in Latvia, I think that gave us all the confidence that we needed to go ahead and continue to push forward and dominate the Asia Cup throughout the next year and a half.”
Newsome also favors this new approach as players no longer have to worry about making the final roster.
“It’s real important because when you’re looking at us and what we’re doing, that whenever you can kind of look forward and see what jobs you have and what tasks you have, you can already start to prepare yourself. Whenever something is kind of unsure, that’s when you’re kind of second-guessing a lot of times like ‘Am I going to make the lineup? Am I not? Or should I be prepared or should I not be prepared?’
“Whereas the fact that I know that I’m in that lineup. I know I have to be prepared. There’s no other option. So I’m 100% committed giving everything because I know for a fact that I have to be ready. If I’m not ready the world’s going to know.”
Chris Newsome was famously the last cut on the 2023 FIBA World Cup team, after training with the team for weeks. He’s not blaming anyone for what happened, it’s just that the new set-up gives him peace of mind.
“Coach Chot (Reyes) had his way of doing things and not to say one is better or worse, but I’m going into those practices as if I am going to be in the lineup. And then little did I know that I’m not going to be in the lineup,” he said. “So that made it hard for me to accept knowing that I gave everything and it wasn’t enough.
“Whereas here I know that I’ma give everything I’m gonna have my chance. And if it’s not enough, or if I fail then at least I failed knowing that I gave my best and knowing that I was the most prepared that I could be. And even then I know who I’m playing with. I can keep track of how they’re playing overseas and their respective leagues.
“We can keep in touch. We can have the same group chat and we can continue to build our chemistry and I think that’s the difference between now and before.”
Banner Image from Kieran Punay.