GILAS Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes isn't falling to the trap of complacency ahead of the Philippines' match against India in the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Chot on Gilas vs India
Despite the huge discrepancy of both teams in terms of world rankings, with the Filipinos at no. 33 and the Indians at 80, the veteran tactician understands the threats posed by the visitors for their game on Friday.
And for Reyes, it all falls down to two things: India's height and the presence of Serbian mentor Veselin Matic.
"No. 1 is [India's] size. They've had over the years right before our eyes, we've seen India develop and grow into a legitimate basketball competitor," he said.
India's average height is at 6-foot-6 bannered by 7-foot-2 center Princepal Singh, formerly of the NBA G League Ignite team.

Reyes furthered: "Their skills have tremendously improved and with the way coach Matic is with them, we're very certain that they're going to be well coached and well prepared. That's the thing I told our team, we have to completely be ready for a very tough team against India."
Gilas holds an all-time record of 18-4 against India, although the last time the two teams met, the Indians stunned the Filipinos in the 2016 Fiba Asia Challenge, 91-83, in Tehran, Iran.
It's also not lost in the mind of Reyes the familiarity that the Indian team has, with captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi still going strong at 30 together with fellow veterans Amritpal Singh, Aravind Annadurai, and Palpreet Singh Brar.
"They're a tall team, well coached and they've been together for a long time. A couple of guys there, we've seen them for 10 to 11 years, so they've been together for a decade already," he observed.
"You can imagine the kind of chemistry and familiarity they've built with each other. That alone is a cause for us to make sure that well take our best to be able to compete against them."
Gilas and India face off at 3 p.m. on Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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