FIBA: The downfall of Gilas Pilipinas in the third window

When Gilas Pilipinas swept the first two windows in Group B of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers, the basketball world was amazed at what the Philippine national squad achieved but in the third and final window, the tides have turned – they were the ones being swept.

Gilas was defeated by Chinese Taipei for the first time since the 2013 FIBA World Cup held in Manila. The Taiwanese defeated the Filipinos, 91-84, enduring Justin Brownlee’s 39-point outing, bannered by 8-of-11 shooting from the three-point territory.

If the naturalized player of Gilas almost put in an almost 40-point performance, what went wrong?

Maybe that was one of the reasons – JB can’t do it alone. He needs the support of his teammates. And in that particular game, only Dwight Ramos (15) and AJ Edu (10) poured double-digit numbers to help Brownlee.

Eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo had nine, followed by Chris Newsome’s seven and Scottie Thompson’s four. CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, and Carl Tamayo went scoreless, while Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, and Mason Amos did not play a single minute.

Besides the lack of support for Brownlee, Kai’s Sotto’s absence due to an ACL injury was very evident.

In the first four games of the Philippines in the qualifiers, Sotto averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 2.3 blocks.

Imagine if “Kai-ju” was there, he might be able to change some shots and even block two, and it would take away four points against the Taiwanese. Plus adding his 15 points, the score might become 99-87, in favor of Gilas. And this might be the biggest “what if” in that game.

Going to their games against New Zealand, the Tall Blacks dominated Gilas, 87-70. They also limited Brownlee’s production to just 10.

In the event that Sotto was there playing, swatting two shots might only allowed NZ to have 83 points, plus adding his 15-point average can give the Philippine team a two-point advantage of 85-83.

Another thing that Sotto can bring to the table is his +23 per outing whenever he is inside the hardcourt.

But in that game, New Zealand was almost firing on all cylinders. Tohi Smith-Milner led the Kiwis when he threw three-point shots after another from the get go and finished with 14 markers on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

Kai’s absence might be the most significant one in Gilas downfall as he is the best man in the middle, though Fajardo and Edu also gave their share especially in the New Zealand game, but there were a lot of other factors that contributed to the Philippines losses.

Let us now go through with the other reasons of why they failed to grab at least a win to grab the top spot in Group B, and let the Kiwis grab that edge.

Adding to the list was the Doha pocket tournament that they entered in. They planned to use it as a training ground and once again be familiar with one another. But instead of helping, fatigue might have toiled on them as they played five games in just a week and in three different countries.

Another factor was the point guard slot, only Newsome might be called as the natural one as he’s used to playing the position. Thompson and Ramos also took turns playing the spot at times but they both played more of the off-guard or small forward.

To add to that, the opponents' facilitators were much taller than the ones inside the group, though Gilas faced the same scenario before and can adjust with speed.

Speaking of speed, their opponents might be taller but they were faster. They tried to get every loose ball or grabbed every rebound. The tenacity of their opponents were much better than the showing of the Philippine squad.

Maybe fatigue was really a big factor too. Additionally, the coaching staff were having a hard time adjusting to the match-up issues.

One more observation by analysts and even the fans was the short rotation that Coach Tim Cone used. He usually sticks to eight-to-nine players rotating.

It didn’t work wonders in the Taiwan game so he adjusted in the New Zealand match-up but the Tall Blacks were too much though they were able to trim the 28-point deficit to 11, in front of many Filipino supporters in Auckland.

Because of the two straight losses, Gilas dropped the top spot to the Tall Blacks and will have to face higher-ranked nations come August in the FIBA Asia Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia.

But one good thing about Gilas Pilipinas is that they will have a longer time to regroup, recover, and prepare for the upcoming tournament that will bring Philippine basketball again to its glory.