Cone hanga kay Newsome

MANILA, Philippines — Pinuri ni Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone ang matikas na laro ni Chris Newsome sa FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament na ginanap sa Riga, Latvia.

Walang duda na isa si Newsome sa mga may magandang ipinamalas hindi lamang sa laro kundi sa pagiging kuya nito sa mga mas batang miyembro ng Gilas.

Si Newsome ang pumalit sa naiwang puwesto ni Barangay Ginebra star Scottie Thompson na hindi nakasama ng Gilas sa FIBA Olympic qualifiers dahil sa iniinda nitong injury.

“Without Scottie, we were dependent on Chris. That was, I guess, another question that we had. Could Chris step into Scottie’s shoes and do some of the things that Scottie does? And he did but he did it in a different way,” ani Cone.

Mga bigatin ang nakaharap ng Gilas sa Olympic qaulifiers — ang world No. 6 Latvia, Georgia at Brazil.

Subalit hindi nakitaan ng anumang pagkasindak si Newsome lalo na sa mga krusyal na sandali ng laro.

Kaya naman nakakuha ito ng papuri mula kay Cone.

“He was very calm. He was a calming influence on the whole team. He never was rattled. And he took over that initiator spot,” ani Cone.

Dahil sa magandang inilaro ng Gilas, nagawa nitong wasakin ang Latvia sa pamamagitan ng 89-80 panalo sa group stage.

“In the triangle, we don’t call the lead ball handler a point guard. But we call him an initiator. And Chris was just a tremendous initiator,” dagdag ni Cone.