For Chris Newsome, the Gilas Pilipinas’ gold medal win in the 19th Asian Games would not have been possible if they did not lose to Jordan the first time they clashed.
Jordan foiled the Philippines in their first meeting in the preliminaries, 87-62, and this toughened up the nationals for their inevitable clash in the finals.
“This was our second matchup with Jordan,” said Newsome following their 70-60 stunner against Jordan in the gold medal match. “I think we needed the first loss to happen—you can call that a blessing in disguise—to learn from our mistakes. And that’s exactly what we did today.”
Newsome said their loss in the preliminary rounds forced Gilas to reassess its strategies to become a better team. And it showed during their close wins against Iran in the quarterfinals and China in the semis.
“Even after we took that first loss, we banded together as an organization, a family. Everybody committed to be better,” he said.
Newsome added that the team had to go through a lot, practicing with limited time prior to the games and having to do with the lack of available players.
“We all believed in one another… Those are the qualities of a great team—a special team. We are a special team; that was the word that coach used to (describe) us,” he said.
Not only did they beat a formidable squad in Jordan during the finals, Gilas also won the country’s first gold medal in basketball since 1962.
“So we are a special team, and we did something special.”
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