GILAS Pilipinas may have booked a berth in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, but head coach Tim Cone is still bracing for the toughest part of the national team's campaign in the final window of the qualifiers three months from now.
The Filipinos play back-to-back games on the road as they face Chinese Taipei and New Zealand on Feb. 20 and 23, respectively next year.
They take on the Taiwanese in Chinese Taipei before travelling to Auckland for a rematch with the Tall Blacks.
Both teams were beaten by Gilas Pilipinas at home. It whipped Chinese Taipei, 106-53, at Philsports Arena in window 1 last February, and then scored a breakthrough win against the 22nd-ranked Tall Blacks, 93-89, at the Mall of Asia Arena last week in the just concluded second window.
Now, the national team will have to do things outside the comfort of its home.
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"The whole point of these windows is to get better. Use the experience that we had playing in this (second) window, and add that to the experience we had in the OQT (Olympic Qualifying Tournament), and hopefully, that elevates our game going into the next window where now we're going on the road," said Cone.
"That's going to be important for us to learn because we're going to have to learn how to play on the road and win on the road."
Cone added taking on the Taiwanese and Tall Blacks back-to-back on the road is one daunting task for Gilas going to the Asia Cup tournament proper in Saudi Arabia from August 5 to 17.
"The two away games we're going to have in February is going to be the toughest part of the window. Two toughest teams, and both on the road," noted the Gilas coach.
"It's going to be a tough load for us, and we're already looking forward to that challenge." (RG)
