FOSHAN, China – Gilas Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao took offense at comments made by Serbia counterpart Aleksandar Djordjevic after their FIBA World Cup match Monday, saying it’s unfair to compare the wide gap between the two teams.
Djordjevic had said after Serbia’s 126-67 win that Gilas had the talent but lacking quality, even flaunting how big of a gap the Philippines is with his team and Italy.
Italy cruised to a 108-62 victory over the Filipino cagers in Saturday’s Group D opener.
“Quality is relative, o yung quality nung basketball sa Asia hindi naman kasing taas ng quality ng basketball sa Europe. So you have to base it on that diba?” Guiao said before Tuesday’s practice at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center here.
“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na tinalo ka ng malaki, ang basis ng quality niya yung standard nila. That would be relatively unfair for us,” said Guiao.
Guiao also added that because the Philippines was pummeled by a combined margin of 105 points doesn’t mean that his team does not deserved a slot in the World Cup for the second time.
“This is probably the best team Serbia put up in a long time. Sabi ko nga, they’ll probably make the finals or even win it all,” Guiao said. “So if that is the basis of quality then hindi talaga tayo (we don’t deserve to be here). But the reason we were here in the World Cup is because of the zones that we played.
“If he has a problem with that he has to talk to FIBA,” he added. (Jonas Terrado)
