MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and New Zealand have confronted off 4 occasions in FIBA competitions since 2016.
The scorecard: Tall Blacks – 4, Gilas Pilipinas – 0.
Gilas Pilipinas, then coached by Chot Reyes, misplaced their final three encounters towards New Zealand by a median margin of 29.3 factors.
Mentored by Tim Cone this time and armed with confidence gained from the Paris Olympics Qualifying Match — the place they defeated host Latvia and misplaced by simply two factors to Georgia — Gilas Pilipinas goals to defend dwelling turf and rating a breakthrough victory over New Zealand within the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers on Thursday, November 21, on the Mall of Asia Area.
New Zealand additionally had a creditable displaying within the Olympic qualifiers in Greece, scoring a 90-86 victory over eventual finalist Croatia, which featured two NBA veterans — Los Angeles Clippers beginning heart Ivica Zubac and Dario Saric of the Denver Nuggets.
The Tall Blacks ultimately received eradicated by Dallas Mavericks celebrity Luka Doncic and Slovenia, 104-78.
Cone has already institutionalized a scheme for the nationwide group program that works — stick with the identical core and faucet these with excessive basketball IQ who’re already accustomed to his system.
Gilas will usher in the identical group from the Olympic qualifiers, with the addition of Scottie Thompson, who missed the video games in Latvia as a result of an damage.
Ange Kouame, a part of Cone’s group that gained the Asian Video games gold final 12 months, additionally obtained a call-up as a doable alternate to Justin Brownlee.
AJ Edu is a part of the pool, however is reported to be uncertain after struggling a knee damage in his final recreation within the Japan B. League earlier than the FIBA break.
A group in transition
Gilas Pilipinas ought to have the benefit in familiarity and continuity as New Zealand is at the moment a group in transition.
Legendary Pero Cameron stepped down as head coach of the Tall Blacks after 5 years on the helm to simply accept a suggestion from the Ningbo Rockets within the Chinese language Basketball Affiliation.
Taking up is Judd Flavell, a teammate of Cameron within the historic Tab Baldwin-coached New Zealand group which made the semifinals of the 2002 FIBA World Cup.
Flavell was named the 2024 New Zealand NBL Coach of the Yr after main the Canterbury Rams to the title, the second straight 12 months they gained the championship. He coached the NZ U18 group in 2013 and likewise served as one among Cameron’s assistants within the males’s nationwide group.
In his first foray as head coach within the senior worldwide scene, Flavell might be lacking some key gamers who’ve been fixtures within the NZ roster.
Shea Ili, who led the group in scoring in the course of the Paris Olympic qualifiers with 23 factors per recreation, is not going to be becoming a member of the group after they fly to Manila.
Solely half of the group that performed within the Olympic qualifiers are within the 13-man pool assembled by Flavell.
Additionally not within the pool are three gamers who registered double figures in factors in the course of the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers final February — 6-foot-11 heart Samuel Timmins of the Sydney Kings, 6-foot-7 ahead Dan Fotu, and 6-foot-5 guard-forward Ethan Rusbatch, who performed one recreation within the PBA for Converge in 2023.
Happily for the neophyte head coach, he is not going to lack for scoring punch as he has in his roster the 2 different gamers who averaged in double figures in the course of the Olympic qualifiers, Izayah Le’afa and Corey Webster, a pair of 6-foot-2 veteran guards who performed school basketball within the US.
Filipino model of play
It will be an enormous mistake, although, to imagine that the Tall Blacks might be dependent solely on their prolific backcourt.
The 6-foot-7 energy ahead Tom Vodanovich, together with his data of the Filipino model of play after having performed as an import for Converge within the PBA, and 7-foot heart Tyler Harrison, who averages a close to double-double of 12.9 factors and 9.9 rebounds for the Brisbane Bullets within the Australian NBL, will power the Gilas protection to clog the low block.
Two younger Kiwi bigs are posting spectacular numbers within the Australian NBL — 6-foot-10 heart Sam Waardenburg of the Cairns Taipan is norming 16 factors, 7.1 boards, and 1 block this season, whereas 6-foot-8 energy ahead Sam Mennenga places up 12.6 factors and 5.6 rebounds for the New Zealand Breakers.
With the doable absence of Edu, Japeth Aguilar’s position turns into much more essential as he and Carl Tamayo might be wanted to match up towards Vodanovich and Mennenga, two sturdy forwards who wish to additionally shoot from downtown. Throughout the Olympic qualifiers, the 2 mixed for seven makes an attempt per recreation from three.
The Kiwis don’t play up-tempo and barely streak out in transition. In actual fact, of their two video games within the Olympic qualifiers and their two video games within the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, the Tall Blacks solely averaged 5.25 factors in transition factors, with 8 factors as their highest within the blowout win over Hong Kong.
Regardless of their dimension, the Tall Blacks are usually not a robust rebounding group, dropping the battle of the boards towards Croatia and Slovenia within the Paris qualifiers.
Gilas Pilipinas, alternatively, outrebounded the taller and heftier groups of Latvia and Georgia within the qualifiers. Brazil edged Gilas off the glass however solely by a slender margin, 43-40.
Will probably be curious to see if Flavell will stick with the deliberate kind of play the Tall Blacks are recognized for, or if he’ll pace issues up since half of the gamers in his pool aren’t any older than 24 years previous.
One other query for Flavell is that if he’ll give Harrison and Waardenburg sufficient touches to assault the protection of Kai Sotto and June Mar Fajardo.
Throughout the Paris qualifiers, the Tall Blacks shot 33 occasions from three, virtually the identical quantity as their makes an attempt from two. Gilas Pilipinas, alternatively, tried a median of simply 20 from three.
The circumstances are nearly proper for Cone and Gilas Pilipinas, ranked thirty fourth within the FIBA world rankings, to lastly recover from the hump and notch a victory versus world No. 22 New Zealand.
The house courtroom benefit, the Gilas chemistry, the Gilas dimension that permits it to match up properly with the Tall Blacks, and New Zealand nonetheless looking for its id below a brand new coach — all these components favor the host group.
It may be finished.
But it surely is not going to be straightforward. It by no means is towards the Tall Blacks. – Rappler.com
