News: With Gilas Pilipinas Win Over Kazakhstan, Fall Of China, Tim Cone Sees Clear Path To World Cup With the Philippine national men’s basketball team cruising to victory over Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia Championship and defending champion China falling in an upset to Chinese Taipei, Tim Cone feels the goal of making it back to the world basketball stage is within reach. “The minimum now of making it to the World Cup is beating a Chinese Taipei team or the Korean team,” the San Mig Coffee coach told InterAKTV. Gilas Pilipinas is set to face South Korea in the semifinals on Saturday, with the other half of the bracket featuring Iran versus Chinese Taipei. For Cone, not having to go up against China, a 15-time champion and a perennial powerhouse, takes a load off the Phiippines “It’s a mental lift more than a physical lift,” said Cone, who said he likes the chances of the Philippines to nab one of the top three spots, which comes with it a World Cup ticket. “Wow. It goes up. You don’t have to battle the side of China, the reputation, intimidation or whatever. Now you have teams you really feel you can beat.” Like other basketball enthusiasts, Cone was stunned by the poor performance of China in its elimination match against its cross-strait rival. “It’s shocking that Chinese Taipei played that well and China played that poorly. I just can imagine what’s going on back in Beijing and Shanghai. Oh, wow!” said Cone, who gave credit to the Taiwanese. “Chinese Taipei played really well throughout the whole tournament. They’re no pushover. We already lost to them once. I always thought that China was beatable the whole tournament. Watching them, they’re very beatable.” Cone, who helped Gilas prepare by visiting practice a couple of times before the tournament, almost couldn’t contain himself while thinking of the prospects for the national squad. “I cannot say it’s gonna be home free, but it just got better. It was exciting before, I don’t know now. I got goosebumps for Chot (Reyes) and his team.” Original Link: interaksyon/interaktv/with-gilas-pilipinas-win-over-kazakhstan-fall-of-china-tim-cone-sees-clear-path-to-world-cup
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 20:25:49 +0000
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