Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Basketball is undoubtedly one of the biggest sports in the Philippines, making Gilas Pilipinas one of the favorite national teams this coming 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
But the PBA-backed squad led by Tim Cone, the PBA’s most successful head coach, is looking to find a way to also support and watch the country’s other national athletes during the biennial meet.
“We want to go out and find some other athletes to support, we have to find out all the logistics for it,” said Cone Thursday at national team practice.
The men’s basketball games are scheduled on December 4-10 but Gilas won’t have matches on December 5 and 8.
Cone said they will likely watch events happening around Mall of Asia Arena, where the basketball games will take place, or in Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, which is roughly kilometers away from MOA.
“Obviously we’re not going to travel all the way to Subic or down south but we will check out Rizal or whatever’s happening around MOA,” said Cone. “I think it’s important to show their support for the other athletes. We don’t want to sit up on our perch and pretend we’re different from everybody else.”
“We want to be part of the Games, we don’t want to just be in our own tournament.”
Cone said that Gilas won’t be at Philippine Arena for the SEA Games opening on Saturday since they requested two-a-day practices to prepare for their matches since the Philippines is gunning for a 13th straight gold medal in basketball.