Casiano trusts his '12 warriors' to put up one more fight

BELGRADE (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) – Puerto Rico head coach Eddie Casiano was still a player the last time the Caribbean nation's team stepped out at an Olympic Games, at Athens 2004.

"I know we have 12 warriors who are going to give all they have one more night." - Casiano

Cassiano is 40 minutes away from returning to an Olympics as a coach, interestingly just like his opposite number in Saturday's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) final in Belgrade, Serbia boss Aleksandar Djordjevic.

But as the Puerto Rico coach told FIBA.com, the prospect of getting past Serbia on Saturday to qualify for Rio 2016 goes far beyond the fulfilment of his Olympic aspirations.

FIBA.com: Your team went from strength to strength in this tournament, are we going to see its best version in the final, to the point where it will be very different to Monday's 87-81 loss to Serbia?
Casiano: We got to continue for another 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether we can make it but I know we have 12 warriors who are going to give all they have one more night. In the first game against Serbia we had 21 turnovers but in the Semi-Final we dropped it down to five. We will try to give it a different look out there, we will do our best and from then on, in the game of basketball anything can happen. If it was one-sided, there would be no point in playing. So we get another chance at doing things better.

"We are trying to pick it up and put the Puerto Rico name back where it used to be." - Casiano

FIBA.com: Are you concerned that the back-to-back game might be more taxing on your team and your veterans?
Casiano: It might, but I am not worried. At the end of the day, it's the last game. I rotated almost everybody in the semi-final, the only one who played more than 30 minutes was Barea and we had six players in double figures. We should be rested and we also got guys on the bench who can do their job.

FIBA.com: Having experienced the Olympics as a player, does it mean even more to you to go there as a coach and get to taste that part too?
Casiano: It would mean a lot for us all to get to the Olympics, especially for this group who have been through a lot during the last five-six years. It would mean a great deal to them and to Puerto Rico because we haven't been having the best tournaments. We are trying to pick it up and put the Puerto Rico name back where it used to be. It would be a big accomplishment for everybody.

FIBA