Former Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin reflected on the "conspiracy of circumstances" that led to the Philippines' stumble in the last two games of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
From one Gilas Pilipinas head coach to another, Tab Baldwin is confident Tim Cone can turn setbacks into comebacks.
“He’s gonna take the punch on the chin, learn from it, prepare, and draw everything he can to fill in any gaps that there are leading to the Asia Cup,” Baldwin spoke on One PH's Power and Play with Noli Eala.
While Gilas Pilipinas already booked a ticket to FIBA Asia Cup 2025, the previously undefeated Philippines ended the Qualifiers on a sore note--losing to Chinese Taipei and New Zealand on the road.
Baldwin though was circumspect about what led to Gilas' stumble.
"The real story behind Gilas right now, which is so often the case when you see good performers run into a rough patch... is there's almost always a conspiracy of circumstances that invade your happy world," Baldwin said.
He noted that it was a huge factor that big man Kai Sotto was unable to suit up in those two games due to an ACL injury. But there were other circumstances which led to the losses.
“It wasn’t just [about] Kai’s injury, it was also going on the road to a New Zealand team that was in desperate circumstances themselves," the Ateneo Blue Eagles coach said, noting that the Tall Blacks were under a new coach and it was not going to sit well with the Kiwis to absorb two straight losses to Gilas--the second being right at their home too.
Baldwin also noted the preparation in the pocket tournament against Egypt and Lebanon--with the short turnaround for the games against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand.
It was something Cone already acknowledged as a learning experience.
[ALSO READ: Tim Cone deems back-to-back Gilas losses as personal learning experience — ‘That’s on me’]
“The final piece to this puzzle is that they already had a ticket to the FIBA Asia Cup. And that works against the players’ mindset. When things start to unravel a bit, you don’t get the result, [or] the fighting spirit from the players because they're already thinking, 'well we've already got in hand what is most important,'" Baldwin noted.
[ALSO READ: Cumulative experience' for Gilas Pilipinas as focus shifts to actual FIBA Asia Cup 2025]
"So that conspiracy of circumstances--and Tim won't tell you that--but those are a super big challenge for a head coach. And you know he handled it so well. And he said, let's move on, we got to take this setback on the chin and begin to prepare for the next major event," Baldwin praised.
[ALSO READ: Dwight Ramos on Gilas Pilipinas' latest string of losses: 'It's good that we got humbled']
“Even without Kai, they’re going to be better prepared, learn from the tough experience and come out fighting. And that's what you expect from Gilas and coach Tim Cone,” the former Tall Blacks head coach expressed.