MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas remained as the yardstick after the smoke of battle cleared in the 33rd SEA Games men’s basketball in Bangkok.
But for Gilas “A” team coach Tim Cone, the stature was never in doubt – not even challenged by anyone – what more if it were allowed to send its best squad.
“Maybe I shouldn’t say this because I don’t want to take anything away. But if we had brought the A team to the Southeast Asian Games, it wouldn’t have been close, obviously,” said Cone, giving credit to Norman Black for fighting against all odds to make it happen.
“They did a great job of fighting. I think everybody forgets how great a coach Norman is. The guy’s a championship coach. I had no doubts. I know other people did, but I had no doubts. I’ve been against him so many times,” said Cone.
“I’m really happy for him that he has that chance to remind everybody of how good a coach he is. And not only is he a great coach, he’s a great person. And he really loves his adopted country. And he’ll do anything for it. So, kudos for him. I’m really proud that he’s a friend of mine and that he was able to do that.
“Especially if Kai (Sotto) had played. Imagine if Kai was playing along with June Mar (Fajardo), AJ (Edu), Quentin (Millora-Brown), you know. But it worked out well. It was dicey and it should be so kudos to them. I’m proud of them.”
Gilas, under the guidance of the PBA Grand Slam coach and five-peat UAAP champion Black, got the job done in Thailand via a sweep capped by a 70-64 win against the hosts.
It was the 20th SEA Games men’s basketball gold for the Philippines – the most in history.
But it wasn’t a walk in the park as Gilas had to go through all obstacles thrown by the hosts – outside the playing court. There’s Thailand implementing rule changes one after another, and shattered the Gilas’ original line-up. Officiating in the finale was also a problem, with Thailand being awarded 37 free throws compared to Gilas’ 17.
With Cone’s A team out due to conflict in schedule, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas formed a competitive “B” squad, only to be sidetracked again with naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Mike Phillips, Remy Martin and Jason Brickman being barred from competing.
Robert Bolick, Jamie Malonzo, Poy Erram, Dalph Panopio, Abu Tratter, Von Pessumal, Justin Chua and Cedrick Manzano came in as late replacements, leading to what was called the “C” team that nonetheless delivered the goods for Team Philippines.
They joined holdovers Ray Parks Jr., Matthew Wright, Thirdy Ravena and Veejay Pre, who also impressed Cone and could be in the running for Gilas A duty.
And while Cone is not liking the A, B and C tags on Gilas teams, it would have been a cakewalk for the Philippines had it sent the strongest unit possible like it did in the 2019 SEA Games at home.
“That’s because we brought the supposedly A team. We had everybody,” said Cone on his Gilas squad that steamrolled the opposition with a whopping winning margin average of 47.3 points in the 31st edition, including a 115-81 demolition of Thailand in the finale.
Looking ahead, Cone will have a full arsenal made up of PBA superstars for the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan and the next windows of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Standing tall for Gilas’ main team are Brownlee, Fajardo, Sotto, Edu, Millora-Brown, Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, Chris Newsome and Calvin Oftana along with additions Juan Gomez de Liaño, Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos.