Bahrain must ‘refocus, play with more physicality’

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain must refocus and play with more physicality when they take on continental powerhouses China and South Korea in their final two preliminary round games in the FIBA Asia Cup 2022. This was underlined by the senior men’s national team’s star big man Wayne Chism following their 102-84 loss to Chinese-Taipei in their opening Group B game on Tuesday—one in which, Chism admits, they put in a subpar effort. “We had a lack of focus, our efficiency was not there, and we lost our confidence early,” he said in the post-game Press conference.

Chism added that Bahrain must regain the spirit with which they played their last two games in the qualifiers for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 held earlier this month, when they upset Syria and Kazakhstan, both in away contests. The six-foot, eight-inch naturalised centre said that if they can do that, they may have a fighting chance when they lock horns with China today and South Korea on Saturday—two teams he described as “monsters” of Asian basketball.

“Against China and Korea, those are two powerhouses—we will be going up against some monsters, so what we have to do is recollect ourselves, focus, and give the best shot we can,” Chism said. “We know those guys are ranked very high, no matter if they bring their first or their second team, they’re all on the same level. We have to come out and play really tough against those guys because they are not going to let up on us at all.” Of their loss to Chinese-Taipei, Chism continued: “The guys know this game was one of those we have to take. “In our games against Syria and Kazakhstan, we played with heart, we played very physical, and we played our game.

This game, it was an 11 o’clock game. No physicality from us. No focus for anything. “If we get back to the way we played those two games, we are going to be tough. We can hang in there with China and Korea, and we can probably force overtime or come out with a nice win.

But we have to come back out with that focus and our physicality.” Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Lithuanian head coach Mindaugas Lukosius conceded that his players did not come out with the necessary effort in their game against Chinese-Taipei, especially in the first half when they committed 18 turnovers, many of which were uncharacteristic and unforced. “I really cannot explain our actions in the first half,” he said.

“We had 18 turnovers—it is like we played like a child or a junior team. Most of the turnovers were in the middle of the court. After this, came the points. “It is the main reason why we lost this game, because this is the advantage of 10 points, then 15, and even more that was made in the first half.”

Coach Lukosius was more satisfied with the national team’s second-half showing, and he hopes they can continue to give their best effort moving effort. “We must focus on our game, each quarter, each player’s performance and what he can bring to the team, this is most important for us,” he said.