New Zealand head coach Paul Henare. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The Philippines isn’t going to surprise anyone anymore.
Gilas Pilipinas has been so good since the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain to come out unnoticed to competitors outside the Asian region.
“I don’t know if we were really surprised. We were expecting a big game from Philippines,” said France head coach Vincent Collet after escaping the Filipinos at the start of the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament on Tuesday.
“We knew their best players. The Philippines played a high level game. Their will and determination in front of their president, in front of their fans, I think for them it was really a real challenge to matchup with the French national team. But I think their motivation was really special.”
The loss to France put the Philippines in a must-win situation against New Zealand.
The Kiwis watched the France-Philippines clash and Tall Blacks head coach Paul Henare didn’t see anything that jumped out on him as far as Gilas’ performance is concerned.
“They played very well. Romeo obviously stepped up and made some big baskets for them but the French they played very composed down the stretch,” said Henare. “As great as the crowd were, they just stayed calm and composed. The Philippines can be very proud with the effort that they played with.”
“No, not at all [surprised]. They’re good basketball players and on an international level, on any given night anyone can beat anyone. It’s happened many times before and it’ll happen again. It’s an old cliche but you have to turn up and play the right way if you want to get wins,” added Henare, who played under Philippine team coach Tab Baldwin in the New Zealand basketball league and national team.
Henare said the team watched the game to get used to the atmosphere playing against a big crowd.
“All the guys came in tonight just to experience that atmosphere. I think it was important. For a lot of our guys it’ll be the first time that they played in a crowd like this. And even, not just the size, I think the energy that the crowd creates, it’s fun to be a part of. But I know the guys aren’t intimidated by it. They’re excited to play in front of this crowd.”
A sellout crowd showed up and rallied behind Gilas against France and a full house is also expected when the Filipinos face the Kiwis in a crucial match.
Henare hopes his players can react the way the calm and collected French did.
“As I said before they just stayed composed. Philippines made their run and France didn’t look rattled at all, they just stayed with what they’re doing, ran their sets. Didn’t shoot the ball very well down the stretch but came up with some huge offensive boards.”