CHANGSHA-HUNAN (2015 FIBA Asia Championship) – Iran coach Dirk Bauermann and his Philippines counterpart Tab Baldwin almost echoed each other after the latter's team pulled off a seemingly surprise of an 87-73 win in a Group E game.

The result was Iran's first defeat in a FIBA Asia Championship game after 15 successive wins – including the 9-0 run they had while winning their third title in four editions at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila.

The last time Iran lost was in the Quarter-Finals of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan to Jordan. Baldwin, incidentally, was the coach of Jordan then.

"Well, in a manner of speaking we have been preparing for Iran for more than a month," Baldwin said.

"We always knew this game was going to be critical to decide how we finish in the rankings as we head into the Quarter-Finals," he said.

"But I think this tournament is far from over," he said adding that the "business end of things begins now."

Baldwin was particularly pleased in the way his players reacted to the win.

"There's a lot of humility out there in the locker room," he said.

"The guys were saying we have a lot more of games to play and we have to take care of business tomorrow," he said.

Philippines play India on Tuesday.

"This game was won by individuals playing as a team. To many who don’t know Philippine basketball, it won’t make sense. But today, we really exploited that individual skills of our players," he added.

Bauermann while expressing disappointment in the way Iran reacted to Philippines' fourth quarter fight-back also praised the opponents.

"I think they proved they are an exceptional basketball team. We are certainly upset with this result. I'm not happy at all," the German in his maiden stint as a head coach in a FIBA Asia competition said.

"I think we came in with no real challenges in our previous games. But then as a professional team we can't and don't make excuses.

"This tournament is far from over," Bauermann said.

"Yes, we have certainly taken a blow to our face. Now we have to pick and dust ourselves up and get ready for tomorrow."

Iran line up against fellow WABA team Palestine on the morrow.

FIBA