CHRIS Newsome believes Gilas Pilipinas needed a complete team effort to overcome a physical and disciplined Iran squad in Sunday’s 68-56 victory at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Newsome said Gilas knew what it was getting into against an Iranian side that recently pushed New Zealand in a tough matchup and has consistently been a difficult opponent in Asian basketball.
“Yeah, we understand the Iranians, they play physical. They know how the game is and they actually play really well as a team,” Newsome said.
Rather than relying on one dominant player, Iran moves the ball and operates within a system, something Newsome said was impressive to watch.
“They really move the ball. They really play a really tough system,” he said.
“It’s actually nice to see how they do play as a team. It’s inspiring to see how they play as a team because that shows that you don’t really need just one or two individual players.”
That lesson also applied directly to Gilas, particularly with longtime naturalized star Justin Brownlee unavailable for the fourth window.
“In our case, you know, we’re missing Justin Brownlee. So we really had to show up as a team, and I think we did that today,” Newsome said.
The Philippines did exactly that, overcoming an 18-7 deficit after the opening quarter before taking control of the game in the second half.
Juan Gomez de Liaño and Dwight Ramos led Gilas with 16 points each, while Kai Sotto added 13 points and 16 rebounds as the Philippines completed a perfect fourth window against Jordan and Iran.
Newsome also stressed that Iran was no ordinary opponent, pointing to its recent performances against New Zealand and its historically competitive matchups with the Philippines.
“They’re no easy team by any means,” he said. “They’re definitely a threat when it comes to Asian basketball.”
For Newsome, the way Gilas won may have been just as important as the victory itself.
“It was just nice to get the win today,” he said. “Nice to get the win the way we did, which is defensively,” he added.
And he expects Iran to come back even more determined the next time the two teams meet.
“I know they’re going to be back and hungry whenever we get the next round,” said Newsome. (Jesus Nathaniel Valdez)
