By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
LILLE, France – Marcelinho Huertas was once again a key for Brazil down the stretch, getting the win over Japan and still hoping to make it to the next round.
“We had a good lead for a certain amount of times during the game, but they always managed to come back. [Japan is] a team with an unbelievable threat in the three-point line, and guys played with high confidence. Their point guard and big had an amazing tournament”, he first said after the win.
“We knew they were the keys, we weren’t able to control them during certain moments of the game and when we didn’t they punished us. The advantage was over ten points for a lot of time in the game. Under five really quickly, we had to manage our emotions and we were able to keep playing the right way”, he continued.
“We were more aggressive, making other players make plays. It’s difficult when you take away their two main players like we tried in the end. We were able to get stops and score on the offensive end which led to this big lead win that we needed”, Marcelinho Huertas continued.
Bruno Caboclo’s dominance
The legendary point guard was also asked about Bruno Caboclo’s double-double performance of 33 points and 17 rebounds. His answer was self-explanatory.
“If he doesn’t have foul troubles, he gives so much for us on both ends of the floor. He’s a big threat in the three-point line, in the low-post, rolling to the basket, defensively he covers so much space and helps everybody. Whenever he’s in, it’s just a whole different game for Brazil”, he praised his teammate.
Japan was without Rui Hachimura, but this didn’t change the Brazilian game plan. “We didn’t know until a few hours before the game. From my experience, a lot of times whenever your go-to-guy doesn’t play, other guys step up and it’s even worse. Because you kind of relax and it’s a dangerous situation”, he first commented.
“We locked in from the beginning, we knew some other guys were going to step up, especially Kawamura and Hawkinson, and they did. We tried to do our best to stop them, but they had an amazing game”, he had high praise for their opponents.
“Maybe if they didn’t have this kind of percentages, the game would have been a little easier, let’s put it this way. Maybe we could have had a bigger lead, but we can’t complain. It was an amazing game, they played awesome, we gotta give credit to them. They did an amazing Olympics. We just got this one”, he continued.
Finally, he was asked about his leg condition, if he was feeling fine. “Hopefully, we’ll see tomorrow and the day after. I’m on painkillers. I had a lot of pain, I was suffering at half-time but you just gotta forget and just go with it”, he finished.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA Basketball