Tim Cone owns up to Gilas players’ fatigue, lauds players in PBA semis

Ginebra coach Tim Cone, who is also the coach of Gilas Pilipinas, during the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals Game 1. -PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—Ginebra coach Tim Cone didn’t sugarcoat one bit when talking the Gilas players’ fatigue level on Wednesday after their two-week overseas run.

They were tired.

After the PBA Commissioner’s Cup’s quarterfinals ended on February 11, Cone along with Gin Kings’ core players Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Justin Brownlee, Jamie Malonzo and Troy Rosario (plus RJ Abarrientos and Ralph Cu, to an extent) immediately turned their attention to national duties for Gilas Pilipinas.

READ: Gilas’ Doha trip ‘probably hurt more than helped,’ says Tim Cone

When that was done,   Cone and his Ginebra core went right into battle—with just a day of of preparaion, no less—and emerged victorious over Northport in a huge 115-93 blowout win in the semifinals.

Cone didn’t hold back on taking responsibility for how tired his key cogs were, admitting he two-week overseas letdown was a result of miscalculation.

“I can’t emphasize how hard the trips and travels were,” revealed Cone at Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

“I just didn’t realize how hard they were going to be, plus these guys flew in economy. Imagine a 6’10 June Mar (Fajardo) flying in economy.”

Gilas Pilipinas ahead of its match up against 2025 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers. –FIBA PHOTO

Cone and the Ginebra core players wrapped up their 2025 Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers’ third window on Sunday with a loss to New Zealand.

However, the team didn’t arrive home until around 1 am on Tuesday which roughly gave them just about 48 hours to prepare for their match against the Batang Pier.

READ: Gilas coach Tim Cone takes all the blame for loss to Chinese Taipei

Gilas has been flying back and forth to several countries since their departure from the Philippines in the first quarter of the month–first to Doha, then back to the Philippines, then to Taiwan then to New Zealand.

In five straight road games, Gilas went 1-4.

Cone still lauded his Ginebra core and Calvin Oftana, who finished with 22 points in the TNT win just hours prior to the Gin Kings’ victory.

“I didn’t foresee it being that hard. I wanted it to be hard but it was much harder than I thought it was going to be. The fact that they fought, played through those things, did all that stuff [was something else],” he said.

“It was a great experience in terms of having to battle through things and it’s something we need to do in the future. It’s so much harder playing on the road against the home teams than it was playing here.”

Cone and company will cherish another day of rest before aiming for a 2-0 lead on Friday for Game 2 against Northport at Philsports Arena.