Gilas coach Tab Baldwin not worried about China's home crowd: 'These are fake fans'

CHANGSHA, China - Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin is not worried about the home court crowd when the Philippines clashes with host team China for the gold medal of the FIBA Asia Championship on Saturday.

Chinese fans have been solid for their national team during the tournament, trooping to the Changsha Social Work College Gymnasium to rally behind the squad led by NBA veteran Yi Jianlian.

For Baldwin, however, even they cannot measure up to the passion of Filipino fans who live and breathe basketball.

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"Let them come play in front of Philippine fans, there's the real fans. These are fake fans. They don't know the game of basketball and they just sit up there and cheer when they're told to cheer," the American-Kiwi coach told Philippine media after Gilas dispatched Japan in the semifinals.

"They don't bother us at all. Noise is noise. What's that got to do with anything? Nothing. We're not interested in that," he added.

Baldwin said the team is focused on formulating their game plan for the championship match, preparing to slay the undefeated Chinese team bannered by young and athletic seven-footers.

Gilas Pilipinas is expected to come out with a lot of heart and play against all odds to give the Philippines its first gold medal since 1985 and stage the country's return to the Olympics in 44 years.

"We'll come to fight tomorrow. There's no question about that. We'll walk out on that court with every belief that we can win that game," he said. --JST, GMA News