Tim Cone praises resilient Brazilian team

PHILIPPINE men’s basketball coach Tim Cone credited Brazil for its resilience throughout the Olympic qualifying tournament, including a 71-60 win over Gilas Pilipinas on Saturday night that ended the country’s Cinderella run to the Paris Olympiad.

Cone was impressed with the way the Brazilians came from behind in all three games leading up to the final, in which they face hosts Latvia or Cameroon.

The veteran coach watched closely as the team, ranked 12th in the world, recovered from a 12-point deficit against the Philippines, with the tide turning in the South American nation’s favour in the third quarter.

“They are a good team. They played at the back in all three games they played. They played at the back against Montenegro, they played at the back against Cameroon and they played at the back against us,” Cone noted of Brazil during the post-match press conference at Arena Riga.

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“And all three games they came back. They came back from Cameroon from 26 or 25 points.”

Caboclo took advantage of Kai Sotto’s absence and scored 15 points and 11 rebounds PHOTO: FIBA

We simply had no answer

Led by Aleksandar Petrovic, the brother of the late NBA shooting guard Drazen, Brazil finished as the best team in Group B, with the largest points margin, after winning games against Montenegro (80-72) and Cameroon (74-77).

Gilas took control in the first half and led by as much as 24-12, before taking a 33-27 lead at halftime.

But Brazil refused to give up and started the second half as a completely different team, starting the third quarter with a run of 14-0 and 17-2.

Entering the final quarter, the Brazilians had turned the game around: 51-39.

“So we knew they were coming back,” Cone admitted. “But we just didn’t have an answer.”

Gilas’ coach called the nightmare of the third quarter the turning point of the semi-final.

“I think it was painful to watch us win 12-0 or 14-0 early in the third quarter,” Cone said.

“But there’s a reason Brazil is the 12th best team in the world and they proved that tonight.”

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