QAT/TPE - Qatar, Taipei coaches hail players
TOKUSHIMA (FIBA Asia Championship) - Coaches of Qatar and Chinese Taipei echoed each other after the former won the Group E Quarterfinal round encounter 87-74 on Thursday. "You know it's very tough for the coaching staff to motivate the team for these matches," said Qatar coach Edward Andrist. "It's too quick a time to recover from the shock of elimination and return to the court," he said.
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TOKUSHIMA (FIBA Asia Championship) - Coaches of Qatar and Chinese Taipei echoed each other after the former won the Group E Quarterfinal round encounter 87-74 on Thursday.
"You know it's very tough for the coaching staff to motivate the team for these matches," said Qatar coach Edward Andrist. "It's too quick a time to recover from the shock of elimination and return to the court," he said.
"When the players are mentally shattered, how do you expect them to play their best," reacted Taipei coach Chung Kwang-Suk. "I'm very happy for the fight they put today," he added.
Andrist explained further on the 'shatter' syndrome. "I'm really proud for the way they played as a team. When in situations like these it's very normal for players to begin to play one-on-one. I'm glad that didn't happen and we continued to function as a team," the American added.
"I just told the players to look at this match in isolation," said Kwang-Suk, the coach of Korean origin.
Yasseen Musa led Qatar from the front with a game high 24 points, apart from collecting 10 rebounds and recording six assists. Rallying around their 203cm forward was Ali Saad, with 20 points.
Scores
Qatar 87 (Yasseen Musa 24, Ali Saad 20, Salem Omar 15) bt Chinese Taipei 74 (Chen Hsin-An 18, Tseng Wen-Ting 15). Quarterwise: 20-12, 40-32, 62-51.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia