Pagkatapos ng mga pagkatalo sa Australia at New Zealand sa FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, nagplano si coach Tim Cone na baguhin ang offense ng Gilas Pilipinas upang mapabuti ang kanilang pag-shoot. Ang koponan ay nahirapan sa three-point shooting, na nag-averages ng 25% lamang sa apat na laro. Cone ay nag-emphasize na kailangan nilang mag-generate ng mas magandang quality shots.
Sa Manila, Philippines, naharap ang Gilas Pilipinas sa hamon sa kanilang homestand sa second window ng FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers. Noong March 1, natalo sila ng 93-66 sa world No. 6 Australia, pagkatapos ng narrow 69-66 loss sa world No. 25 New Zealand three days earlier. Ito ay nagresulta sa 2-2 record nila sa Group A.
Bagaman napanatili ng depensa ng Pilipinas ang kalaban—limiting New Zealand sa lowest scoring game nito sa qualifiers at Australia sa 38 points sa first half—ang offense ay nag-struggle, lalo na sa beyond the arc. Labans sa New Zealand, 7-of-37 threes (19%), at vs Australia, 9-of-31 (29%). Sa apat na laro, average 25% mula sa long distance.
“It’s back to the drawing board for me a little bit,” sabi ni Cone noong March 1. “I think we’re going to have to look a little bit at our offense and maybe try to simplify things a little more.”
Aniya, may shooters sila tulad nina Dwight Ramos, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Justin Brownlee, Kevin Quiambao, at Calvin Oftana. “We got shooters... It’s just that we’re not generating the shots that we want to generate,” dagdag niya. “It’s not about the shots going in or out. It’s about getting the quality of shots... so that we can get a little bit more open looks.”
“But I don’t think there’s a problem with our shooting. We just haven’t shot the ball that well.”
Sa third window sa July, maglalaro ulit ang Gilas laban sa parehong teams sa road. “[Losing] at home, it’s painful. We had higher hopes and it didn’t work out for us. But we’re going to look forward to July,” sabi ni Cone, na nagpahayag ng pag-asa para sa pagbabalik ng koponan na may 'renewed fire'.
