AUCKLAND (New Zealand) - It's all part of the plan, but even head coach Tim Cone was left pleasantly surprised after witnessing the Philippines' youth brigade submit their best games in the FIBA stage to date.
That's how you evolve a team, right? You try to win with your veterans, and you develop your young guys.
Although they ultimately fell short against New Zealand in a double-overtime classic, praises still rained down on what could be Gilas' troika of the future in Juan Gomez de Liano, Kevin Quiambao, and Carl Tamayo.
"It may be coming a little more quickly than we thought," he said after their narrow 106-102 defeat at the sold-out Spark Arena, in what could be one of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers' best bouts.
"But they are certainly stepping up and playing at a much higher level than they were when they were first on the team," added the veteran internationalist, who's been at the men's team's helm since the start of 2024.
To be clear, this trio is no stranger whatsoever to international competitions. In fact, they've been part of previous Gilas batches, beginning with the squad built some time during the COVID pandemic under Tab Baldwin.
Later on, they'd be called up again when Chot Reyes got reappointed as the program's chief think-tank, and eventually found themselves brought back one after the other when Cone took over the coaching reins.
Gomez de Liano was actually the most recent returnee when he was added back to the pool prior to Window 2 last February, and his inclusion injected more youth to the present-day men's team that's been veteran-laden.
It was indeed a welcome development for a Gilas roster that's been compact by design since the coaching change, and it sure came in handy after the regulars got banged up heading into Window 3.
With players like Scottie Thompson and Calvin Oftana still feeling the rigors of the recent PBA Finals, Cone and his deputies opted to go with a much younger unit to throw against the Tall Blacks and soon, Australia.
Skeptics and naysayers were quick to jump on the gun in questioning if this particular team would have enough size against its Oceania counterparts, but that got quashed following an all-out showing versus the Kiwis.
That's huge thanks to the three young bloods.
Gomez de Liano and Quiambao finished with 23 points apiece, while Tamayo punched in 17 points as they carried the fight for a Philippines side that received only 5 points from the heavily guarded Justin Brownlee.
For the second time in a row, New Zealand's defensive gameplan was heavily predicated on the star winger, but that created the opportunities which the aforementioned players surely took advantage of.
Gomez de Liano was responsible for sending the game into extra time twice by knocking down triples on both occasions. He went on to finish with four treys, and also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists to his tally.
Quiambao - a forward placed at the 2-spot to add more size in the backcourt - shot 9-of-16 from the floor as he helped keep themselves in step with the hosts. He added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Kevin Quiambao and Juan Gomez De Liano have become the first pair of teammates to record 20-plus points each as substitutes in a World Cup Asian Qualifiers game.
via Opta Facts
To think that none of them scored above 13 points in the ongoing competitions makes it all the more impressive. To put matters into perspective, Quiambao's best was only 12, while the lefty PG De Liano just had 10.
Tamayo, for his part, never hit double digits prior to the game - he scored a total of 12 points in his first four outings before exploding for 17, which he made behind a 7-of-12 clip from the floor, including 3-of-4 from deep.
For Cone, it's a manifestation of the kind of evolution they've envisioned since laying down the current program's foundation, which is being built not only for the 2027 World Cup but for the 2028 Olympics, too.
"That's how you evolve a team, right? You try to win with your veterans, and you develop your young guys. And our young guys have been developing over the last year and a half, two years," the 68-year-old offered.
"And every time they've come into a window, they've gotten better," he added. "When we first got them on the team, they were like 21 years old, now they're 24, 25. They have evolved along with the team."
That was the vision from the very beginning when we put this team together, that at one point [they] would be the main guys.
So, will we see the young ones take the spotlight more often moving forward? That remains to be seen, and Cone is just mighty proud of the work the three have been putting in to get their games to where it is now.
"We're real proud of those young guys for continuing to improve," he expressed.
"They both play in Korea, KQ and Carl; they get a lot of improvement there. And Juan is becoming one of the premier point guards in our league back in Manila. They have great, great futures ahead of them."
FIBA