06/07/2024 – 17:42
The script was similar to that of the first two games and the outcome was similar. The Brazilian men’s basketball team started behind, but fought back and defeated the Philippines 71-60 this Saturday (6), in Riga, Latvia, in the Pre-Olympic tournament. With this, Brazil reaches the final of the competition against the home team, this Sunday (7), at 1 pm Brasília time. Whoever wins will qualify for the Paris Games.
Just like what happened against Montenegro and Cameroon, Brazil struggled in the first half and went into the break behind on the scoreboard. The Philippines made it 22-12 in the first quarter and closed the first half of the game winning 33-27.
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However, after the break, Brazil scored a long sequence of points without a response from the Philippines and completely changed the situation. Once again, Bruno Caboclo was the star, with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The third quarter ended with the score at 24 to 6 for Brazil, who managed to control any momentum from their opponents in the final ten minutes to come away with the victory.
Latvia later defeated Cameroon 72–59 to secure their place in the grand final.
Now, Brazil finds itself in the same situation it experienced three years ago, when it competed in the Pre-Olympic Tournament in Split, Croatia, in search of a place in Tokyo.
Interestingly, at that time, the coach was Aleksandar Petrovic, who in three years left the command of the national team to make way for Gustavo De Conti, who left the team at the beginning of 2024, being surprisingly replaced by Petrovic himself.
According to the coach, although the trajectories are similar (in 2021 Brazil reached the final, before losing to Germany), there is not much in common between the two campaigns.
“The difference between then and now is huge. There, we played perfect basketball, with three wins of almost 30 points, against Croatia, Mexico and Tunisia. And we didn’t know how to suffer when Germany reached the final. Now we are suffering maybe too much, but who knows, maybe we will be rewarded,” said the Croatian in the post-match press conference.
The point guard Georginho, who was also part of that group, is confident of a happy ending this time.
“Difficult games like the one against Cameroon and today’s create a stronger, more united team and make our energy rise. Even though we are confident, we keep our guard up. That’s good. Tomorrow [domingo] We know we can do things differently. We are ready to go to Paris,” said the player, who left the court with eight points, four rebounds and three assists.
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