Serbia not underestimating Gilas or other foes in FIBA OQT

Serbia is not expecting a walk in the park when they wage war against the Philippines and other opponents in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which happens to be happening on their home soil.

Despite ranking No. 5 in the world, Serbian head coach Igor Kokoskov reiterated that their team is not perfect — and is far from it.

That's why he reminds himself and his players to always pay respect to their opponents by giving their best performance during the games.

"We will not underestimate any of these teams. It’s not about the name, it’s about the game," said Kokoskov in a pre-event press conference Tuesday (Manila time).

"We have to bring our best game and to play our best basketball, we have to focus on ourselves."

Serbia is emerging to be one of the heavy favorites in the tournament where an Olympic ticket is at stake.

And in fact, Gilas Pilipina head coach Tab Baldwin stressed that Serbia remains to be a powerhouse team even without the presence of some of its stars like 2021 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawk Bogdan Bogdanovic.

Sans the two NBA stars, Serbia will still be bannered by elite players such as  Miami Heat's forward Nemanja Bjelica and Boban Marjanovic of the Dallas Mavericks, who put up 18 points and 10 rebounds in their 94-76 win against Dominican Republic on Wednesday morning.

Kokoskov stressed they are a new team and even revealed that some of the players joined them just days before the tournament proper.

"We are a new team, we are completely new and we just started playing together," he said.

"We have a lot of respect for all these teams that are playing, we’re not just showing up but we’re going to give them respect and give our best game."

Kokoskov, who had stints with Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings, added they are lucky to still be playing the sport they love amid the ongoing pandemic.

And this will be their inspiration when they go up a Gilas Pilipinas side that is being bannered by an all-cadet cast that includes Kai Sotto, Ange Kouame, SJ Belangel, and Dwight Ramos. 

"I always say and remind myself and remind the guys that we are fortunate that we can play basketball in this really strange time," he shared.

"It’s a great thing we can play basketball and represent our country, we can play for our people, our nation. It’s going to be quite challenging, we have a new group of guys, new faces, a lot of new names in our roster and unfortunately we didn’t have too much time for training camp."

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News