Cone adds to coaching greatness, caps roller-coaster Asiad ride with elusive Gilas gold
MANILA, Philippines – Twenty-five years since bringing home a bronze medal in the Asian Games, Tim Cone finally took the long-coveted gold medal back to the Philippines.
Cone, who coached the squad nicknamed the Philippine Centennial Team back in 1998, had a third place finish in that year’s Asiad.
Led by PBA all-time greats Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa, Allan Caidic and Kenneth Duremdes, to name a few, the Philippines, back then, recorded four straight wins before suffering back-to-back defeats against South Korea and China which led them to settle for the bronze medal game against Kazakhstan.
Fast forward to 2023, PBA winningest coach — with 25 championships — was tapped to lead the Gilas team a few days after its FIBA World Cup stint ended, and a few days after then-head coach Chot Reyes decided to “step aside”.
However, the short time to prepare was just the tip of the iceberg for the team.
Days before the start of the Asiad, four players were found to be ineligible to play for Gilas — guard Terrence Romeo and forwards Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins and Mo Tautuaa.
RR Pogoy, who played for the national team in the World Cup, begged off due to a “serious medical issue.”
They were then replaced by guards Kevin Alas, Chris Ross, CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter and forward Arvin Tolentino.
The original five were taller and fit Cone’s triangle offense system better.
But despite these, Cone made the team work, and it resulted in the team’s first gold medal in Asian Games basketball in 61 years.
Cone told reporters after the game that the team seemingly came from nowhere.
“After beating Iran by a point, and finding a way to the miraculous win against China by one point and turn around and win this, it’s unexplainable, the feeling we all have,” he said, as seen in the video uploaded by the Daily Tribune on X (formerly Twitter.)
“This is seemingly coming from nowhere to win this gold medal. And we know it means so much to everyone back home. We are passionate about our basketball and for us to be able to do that for our countrymen is such a huge thing,” he added.
“We can’t wait to get home and share it with them when we get back.”
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