Coach Bauermann Lauds Iran Basketball Team after Beating Korea
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iran coach Dirk Bauermann praised Team Melli because of defeating South Korea in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship quarterfinals.
On Thursday, Team Melli beat South Korea 75-62 at the Changsha Social Work College's gymnasium in Changsha, China.
“Our players understood that the Koreans always play well early in games. They were 18 points up on China and 12 up against Qatar before losing those games,” said Iran coach Bauermann.
“Our players understood that we’d got to come out ready and win the first five minutes of the game. And I think we did. Doing that helped make the rest of the game easier for us,” the German coach added.
Haddadi collected 18 points and 14 rebounds while Oshin Sahakian and Hamed Afagh added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
“I think the key really was our defensive performance. It was an outstanding performance against outstanding offensive team,” said Bauermann.
With the loss, the Koreans were relegated to the consolation round where the best placing they can get is fifth.
“They have played outstanding basketball up to this point. They nearly had China beat, and they lost to Qatar only in overtime,” he said.
“I was really impressed how well they’ve played up to this point. Though they lost today, they extremely played well through the tournament,” Bauermann went on to say.
