Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone couldn’t help but marvel at the luxury of having a player of Chris Newsome’s quality coming off the bench. Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone couldn’t help but marvel at the luxury of having a player of Chris Newsome’s quality coming off the bench. Newsome has proved to be a pivotal part of the national team even as he was reduced from being a starter during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament to surrendering that spot to the returning Scottie Thompson.
“There’s a luxury having a guy like that coming off the bench. We saw how good he was in the OQT as a starter and then Scottie took over for him but he took that reign (coming off the bench),” said Cone. While Newsome played as part of the second unit during Gilas’ historic 93-89 win over New Zealand, the Philippine Cup Finals MVP provided value across the board, having to facilitate the offense and to defend when he shadowed the hot-shooting Corey Webster of the Tall Blacks.
“We talked about it. He and I said we didn't know much about this team coming in because they hadn't played together but it was his job to sit on the bench for the first few minutes checking out these guys and figure out how you are gonna play them,” said Cone. “He came out and played these guys really well.
I thought he was the one that really got us going defensively and got us back into the game after a slow start,” he said of Newsome. Newsome finished with 11 points as he formed a formidable b.
