Cone not taking chances
It could be the most problematic Gilas team ever but no matter the odds, coach Tim Cone is armed for battle with a band of brothers determined to fight ‘til the final buzzer of every contest at the Hangzhou Asian Games. The campaign began yesterday with Gilas taking on Bahrain. Then, the Philippines battles Thailand tomorrow and Jordan on Saturday. If Gilas winds up on top of Group C at the end of the round-robin preliminaries, it automatically qualifies for the quarterfinals to begin on Oct. 3. In that scenario, Gilas will play the winner of a knockout between Group A’s No. 2 (possibly, Kazakhstan) and Group B’s No. 3 (possibly, Hong Kong). If the Philippines advances to the semifinals, it could be a showdown with host China, expected to sweep Group B. In the final, Group A’s Iran or Group D’s South Korea could make it to clash with either Gilas or China.
