PUR - Santiago: We are more intense now

MAR DEL PLATA (FIBA Americas Championship) - Daniel Santiago is one of the two Puerto Rican players in Mar del Plata to have played the 2004 Athens Olympic Games together with Carlos Arroyo.

FIBA: How old are you?
Daniel Santiago: I’m 35.

FIBA: You look younger when you are inside the court.
Santiago: That’s the Latin blood.

In spite of his experience and being the fourth oldest player in the tournament, the Santiago keeps a young spirit.

In order to achieve Puerto Rico’s goal in FIBA Americas, Santiago has to stay close to the basket so he can rebound and block shots. But to be able to do that, Santiago needs from his teammates efforts.

Coach Flor Meléndez has said defence is key to Puerto Rico as he knows his team won’t have much trouble to score. He also said “I don’t want my team to relax, we have started in good shape and we have improved the way we play against minor teams, which used to be a problem for us.”
Puerto Rico have already advanced to the Quarterfinal group after winning the first three games.

Former Phoenix Suns player, Daniel Santiago talked to FIBA about Puerto Rico’s improvements from the past few years to this tournament.

FIBA: How would you describe this Puerto Rico team?
Santiago: We have a new team, guys that have too much experience and a young team that have a lot of energy. I think in this type of tournament, if we have the team that have the most energy, more often we will win the games because we are able to do a lot of things in transition and in half-court as well as we have talented guards.

FIBA: But coach Meléndez and yourself have been talking about your improvement in defence.
Santiago: I think defence is going to be the key for any team in this tournament.

FIBA: How did you change that?
Santiago: We are more intense now. Our intensity have improved a lot over the past few years. Normally we have been such an offensive team and now we have to concentrate a little bit more on defence.

FIBA