KOR – Renewed hope after strong showing

NEW TAPEI CITY (FIBA Asia Championship) - If Iran left the William Jones Cup buoyed by another title, another team in the friendly tournament staged in Chinese Taipei grew in confidence with the FIBA Asia Championship less than a month away.
 
Korea, the team Iran beat in the final, put all of the Asian teams on notice that they will be tough customers when China host the FIBA Asia Championship from September 15 to 25 in Wuhan.
 
They were impressive while rolling up six wins in their first seven games, including a 77-59 thumping of Iran - the winners of the last two FIBA Asia Championships.
 
But in the William Jones Cup title game, the class of Hamed Haddadi was too much to overcome.
 
The Memphis Grizzlies center had 35 points, 18 rebounds and seven swats.
 
Hur Jae's team nevertheless looked like a team that could challenge for Group A supremacy at the FIBA Asia Championship with India, Malaysia and Lebanon also in the pool.
 
“Our goal in the Jones Cup was to train, but it’s a shame we couldn’t win it,” Hur said.
 
“We will do better next month.”
 
People back home in Korea were certainly excited by the performances.
 
“The future for the Asia Championship looks bright,” said Kim Dong-kwang, the executive director of operations for the Korean Basketball League (KBL).
 
“We lost to Iran, but yesterday was just one of those days.”
 
Korea look like a team that's determined to bounce back from a disappointing seventh-place finish at the FIBA Asia Championship two years ago.
 
“If we build up our team cohesion over the next month, we’ll be a different team than the one you saw two years ago,” Kim said.
 
FIBA