South Korea coach Cho doesn't see Gilas Pilipinas as rival

Prior to Sunday's game between Gilas Pilipinas and South Korea, the Filipino basketball community was anticipating a heated game following comments from both teams' coaches.

Korea head coach Cho Sang-hyun called SJ Belangel's game-winner at the buzzer a "lucky shot" following the Philippines' 81-78 win over them last Wednesday.

That didn't sit well with Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin, who fired back with comments of his own.

"I think that’s pretty rich of any coach to walk off of a game in which you lose and to claim that it was good luck on the part of  your opponent," he said.

Baldwin added that he didn't "expect that we would be going out there to make friends on Sunday."

Gilas repeated over the Koreans on Sunday with an 82-77 statement win to sweep its games against Korea along with the rest of their campaign in the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

But while the exchange is a new addition to the storied history between the two teams, Cho said that he doesn't view Gilas as a rival.

"I personally didn't really think of the Philippines as a rival," he said in Korean and translated to English by an interpreter during the post-game press conference.

"But I always find very useful things after playing against (the) Philippines so that's what I'm taking on my perspective on this game as well."

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News