FOSHAN, China -- Serbia coach Sasha Djordjevic was blunt in his assessment of the Philippines and its brand of basketball, after his team completed a 126-67 demolition of Gilas Pilipinas in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

With Denver's All-Star center Nikola Jokic leading the way, Serbia ramped up the intensity in the second quarter to turn what had been a relatively slim 39-28 lead into a massive 62-35 advantage at the half. The Philippines had no answer, particularly on the defensive end, as Serbia shot a blistering 75% from the field in the game.

"What can I say? Tough loss is always a tough loss," Djordjevic said of the game. "It depends how you're going to react."

Djordjevic said that the Philippine team "showed some talent, some quickness."

"But obviously," he added, "you're missing quality."

This, he said, was evident in their games against Italy and Serbia.

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Gilas entered the tournament hoping to keep its games close and try to give themselves a shot to win in the end, but neither Italy nor Serbia gave them a chance. The Italians crushed them early, outscoring Gilas, 37-8, in the first quarter en route to a 108-62 victory.

While they had a better start against Serbia, the result was the same -- and indeed, they absorbed an even bigger defeat.

"Two European tough teams, European teams who know how to play basketball, tough, physical basketball, that's the result," said Djordjevic. "Maybe (it's something) to think about in the future."

Gilas Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao won't deny that the past two games have been, at the very least, a learning experience for him and the entire team.

"We're playing Asian level basketball and competing very well at the Asian level, but of course, the world level is different," he said. "Several notches different."

"We need certain types of players, we need the exposure to the level of play. So these are the things that I guess we need to work on," he added. "So it's a learning experience, definitely."

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