Cone: I take full ownership

Head coach Tim Cone owned up to Gilas Pilipinas’ stinging road game loss to Chinese Taipei in a dampener of a start in the third window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Cone took to social media to take accountability for the Filipinos’ 84-91 defeat over the host squad which snapped their four-game win streak Thursday night at the packed Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.

“No one feels worse about this devastating loss than I do, and I take full ownership of it,” Cone posted on his X account a day after Gilas suffered its first loss in the qualifiers after sweeping the first two two-game windows.

Gilas, which is already through to the main draw slated 5 to 17 August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, faced a different Chinese Taipei squad compared to the one it humiliated by 53 points last year in the opening window of the qualifiers in Manila.

Powered by a new naturalized player in Brandon Gilbeck backed by Japan B. League players Mohammad Gadiaga and Tseng Hsiang-Chun; Chinese Basketball Association veteran Ting-Chien Lin and seasoned gunner Chun Hsiang Lu under new coach Italian Gianluca Tucci, the Taiwanese were one tough customer for Gilas.

Even with Gilas seemingly gaining momentum, taking a one-point lead in the last three minutes of the game after trailing by 10 at the start of the final period, Chinese-Taipei answered with a closing 10-2 run punctuated by a Lu trey and a follow-up dunk by Gilbeck.

“We knew they were going to be much improved from the last time we played them, but they were even better than we thought,” Cone added as Gilas yielded to Chinese-Taipei for the first time since the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship held in Manila.

“That’s on me. No doubt, I should have prepared us better.”

Gilas fell behind by as many as 13 in the second quarter and played catch for the majority of the second half.

The Filipinos committed 17 turnovers that Chinese-Taipei converted to 12 turnover points.

Gilas, which played sans injured 7-foot-3 center Kai Sotto, was outmuscled on offense inside the painted area, 16-28, and allowed the Taiwanese to score 22 second chance points.

Chinese Taipei’s bench mob also outworked its Gilas counterpart, 42-17.

“There is obviously a lot that I would have done differently in that game if given another chance, but that is not possible now. (The) only thing we can do at this point is move on. I will be better. We will be better,” Cone vowed.

The Philippines has lost three straight games in six days including blowouts in their last two matches in a goodwill tournament in Doha.

Now tied with New Zealand with identical 4-1 cards, Gilas will try to rediscover its winning ways in a much-anticipated rematch with the Tall Blacks in Auckland on Sunday morning (Philippine time).