Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone admitted he thought they were already a goner up until the final 30 seconds against China in the semifinals battle of the 19th Asian Games men’s basketball competition on Wednesday night.
The nationals needed to fight back after being down by as much as 18 points, but the Chinese squad seemed to have the answer each time his charges mounted a comeback.
“We were losing hope all the way through. Halftime we were like down 18 points,” said Cone during the post-game interview after their 77-76 come-from-behind victory over China.
Cone said they have decided to put their fate in the hands of their go-to guy, Justin Brownlee, who was on fire that night.
“We were looking at each other, kind of open hands and saying, ‘Well, we just gotta go for it at this point.’ That’s what we meant. We just told Justin, ‘You just gotta go for it. You see opposite openings; attack go.’”
And Brownlee did just that.
He knocked two dagger threes inside the final minute. The second one was after Ange Kouame’s screen, which allowed Brownlee to drill the money shot with just 24 seconds to play.
It was enough to nudge the nationals past their bitter rival, China, and into the gold medal match.
“I lost hope all the way through there until the last what… 30 seconds, 23 seconds? I thought for sure we’re gonna lose that game,” said Cone.
“But the good news is that even though I lost hope, the players didn’t lose hope. They get back fighting and battling, so yeah, all the credit goes to our players.”
The victory propelled Gilas Pilipinas to the men’s basketball finals, which is the first since a Robert Jaworski-coached national squad made a similar feat 33 years ago.
Gilas’ win was also devastating for China, as the host team absorbed the beating in front of its home crowd at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.
China was looking to get back at the nationals following its 96-75 defeat to the Filipinos in the classification round of the recent FIBA World Cup.
But like Cone said, the Filipinos did not lose hope despite the odds.
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The post Cone admits nearly surrendering after Gilas trailed China by 18 first appeared on Fastbreak.
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