Gilas Pilipinas seeks to fend off the anticipated tough challenge of Rajko Toroman-coached Indonesia Monday night as it eyes its expected stint in the Southeast Asian Games gold medal round.
The high-powered Filipinos swept their three assignments in Group A by wide margins but Gilas coach Tim Cone stressed they can't take it easy against Group B No. 2 Indonesia in the KO semis, knowing full well Toroman's quality and familiarity with Philippine basketball.
"We all know who their coach is over there. We all know he's been with the original Gilas team and he coached in the PBA. We all know how disciplined his teams are, they play will great discipline, usually very good shooting teams," Cone said of Toroman, who handled Gilas 1.0 and steered the all-amateur squad to fourth place in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship.
Cone is personally close to the Serbian but won't let friendship stand in the way of his dreamed gold for the Philippines here.
"He's a good friend of mine and it's always difficult to play against, coach against a good friend. But he has something he has to do, we have something we have to do," he said.
After somehow holding back and giving June Mar Fajardo and Stanley Pringle a breather during their demolition of lowly Myanmar last Friday, Gilas unleashes a full-strength, no-nonsense side in the 8:15 p.m. semis.
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"We're gonna go out and show our wares out on Monday. We're not gonna hold anything back, we're gonna go after them 'coz we respect them so much, we know anything can happen against their country.
"We'll be the favorite team but we're used to that at this point so we're gonna go out and get them," said Cone.
Toroman's crew is led by Abraham Grahita, who averaged 16.33 points in the group stage and Kaleb Gemilang who posted 13.33 markers and 7.33 rebounds in three matches.
Winner of the Philippines-Indonesia showdown will face off with the victor or the other Last-4 duel between Group B topnotcher Thailand and Group A No. 2 Vietnam for the ultimate prize. (OL)
