Filipinos look to steal a win on Kiwis’ home floor

Gilas Pilipinas battles New Zealand in Auckland on Friday, looking to conquer the Boomers on their home floor for the Filipinos to have some sort of slack heading into the next window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

The Filipinos will be looking to avenge a 69-66 loss the last time they tangled with the Kiwis, and a win would give them some breather heading into the next round where formidable Middle Eastern teams like Iran and Jordan await.

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“If we don’t win one of these next two games, then we’re going to have a very small margin of error as we move forward to the next round,” Cone had said during one of their practices prior to departure.

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This game will be held at Spark Arena, before the Filipinos fly to Australia for a match with the Boomers, who manhandled them the last time.

“It’s almost like we’re going to [need to] sweep the next round, and that’s really difficult with high-quality teams like Iran, Jordan,” added Cone in explaining the consequences of two losses this week.

“So it would really help us out if we can win one of these next two games, and that would give us more margins of error as we move forward to the next round.”

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New Zealand comes into the game taking eight of the players from that last win, while Team PH will be without Kai Sotto and another big man in Quintin Millora-Brown, who are out because of different reasons.

Scottie Thompson and Calvin Oftana will also sit this one out, with both still recovering from injuries that they played through in the last PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series that concluded just two weeks ago.

Tai Webster, a familiar New Zealand fixture, will be leading the Tall Blacks against the Filipinos together with Jordan Ngatayo and Sam Mennenga.

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While Gilas next collides with a heavyweight in the Aussies, New Zealand battles Guam and Jericho Cruz on July 6 at Eventfinda Stadium, also in Auckland.

Team PH and New Zealand have similar 2-2 records heading into Friday, with the Kiwis expected to be the third qualifier from Group A together with the Filipinos and the Aussies, who have a 4-0 card.

The qualifiers coming from this group will advance to clash with teams from Group C made up of Iran, Jordan, Syria and Iraq.

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