'Release the dragon': China coach dares players to go all out vs Gilas

MANILA, Philippines -- Ahead of China's crucial FIBA World Cup classification round game against Gilas Pilipinas on Saturday, head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic said he would "love" for his players to release their inner dragon as they try and book the outright ticket to next year's Paris Olympics.

China boosted their chances of booking the lone Asian direct ticket to the Olympics after beating Angola, 83-76, Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

They are only the second Asian team to tally a win in the FIBA World Cup, aside from Japan, who is also set to battle Venezuela also on Thursday night.

At a press conference following their win, Djordjevic said that they will be preparing against the home team, which they will face Saturday night.

"We just have to continue believing in ourselves. I would love for everybody to release the dragon that they have inside that is needed, absolutely. We're gonna work on that too," he told reporters.

The Serbian Djordjevic earlier coached Serbia in previous international tournaments until 2019, when the Serbians beat Gilas by 46 points in that year's world cup.

This time around, the coach said that it is a completely different ballgame.

"It was a different World Cup. It's not the same team and now I'm coaching China. And we are going to prepare our guys to [face] the philippines the best way like we tried to do to be ready for the game," he said.

"That's the only thing I can do, focus on my players and focus on giving them some freshness and recover their bodies, and that's what we're gonna do," he added.

He also underscored that Gilas is an opponent that they "respect a lot."

"We know it's gonna be a tough game in front of the home crowd and just go for it," he said.

"Every next game is the most important game of our lives. That's how it's going to be."

China went 0-3 in the group phase after backbreaking losses against Serbia, Puerto Rico and South Sudan.