Shocked Tim Cone credits Gilas’ historic win over Latvia to defense

Manila, Philippines — Shortly after Gilas Pilipinas secured a commanding win over world No. 6 Latvia, Tim Cone stepped into the post-match interview and told the media he was still in shock.

“I’m totally shocked to be sitting here in front of you after winning this basketball game,” Cone said at the post-match press conference after the Philippines pulled the rug out from under hosts Latvia in front of a stunned home crowd at Riga Arena early Thursday morning (Philippine time).

Cone said defense made the biggest difference for a Philippines team that saw Latvia demolish Georgia 83-55 on Wednesday in the opening game of the FIBA ​​Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Group A.

“You have to give credit to our guys and their defense. We did our best to defend everybody,” said Cone, whose Philippines held Latvia to just 37.5 percent shooting (27 of 72).

The American mentor and concurrent Barangay Ginebra coach added that the Gilas defense targeted Charlotte Hornets power forward Davis Bertans from the start.

“We were very, very aware of him,” Cone said, referring to Bertans, who struggled to make his shots after going just 2 of 7 from 3-point range and finishing with just 10 points. “We had him playing with a smaller guy who can be quicker.”

Cone admitted that defensively they had to field a smaller player to defend Bertans, knowing how quick the 31-year-old Latvian forward is.

“You look at our lineup, our big guy was supposed to go guard (Rodions) Kurucs. We put our big guy on Kurucs and kept a smaller guy on Bertans. And we were ready to go after him and stay with him, prepared for him to slide screens, pass screens. That was just the game plan. But the guy still makes unbelievable shots,” he added.

“We try to slide into him and then we hope and pray he misses. And tonight he missed, it went our way,” Cone said.

A big change that turned out to be the absence of guard Arturs Zagars, who scored eight points, six assists and three rebounds in Latvia’s 28-point win over Georgia.

“It’s not something we thought we were going to do, I’ll be honest with you,” Cone said. “We wanted to come out and compete and really put on a good show. We got going early. We hit shots early.

“Luckily Latvia missed some shots and (Arturs) Zagars didn’t play. That was huge for us. He’s the guy that goes out there and controls the tempo for them.”

Cone added that Latvia could have easily turned the tables, but the home team’s inability to score made this victory possible for the Philippines.

“But it turned out we had momentum and we never really lost it. There were a couple of periods where we kind of lost our way. But it seemed like when Latvia was about to make a huge run against us, they missed an open three-pointer. It was just one of those nights for Latvia. They just couldn’t score tonight,” Cone said.

The Gilas, who shot 48 percent from the field (30 of 62), will look to make a big jump when they face Georgia at 8:30 p.m. Philippine time.

A win over 23rd-ranked Georgia could add to the Philippines’ historic feat, as the Gilas’ nine-point triumph marked the country’s first victory over a European team since its 84-82 decision against Spain at the 1960 Rome Olympics.