Reports from FIBA Asia:
KOR/TPE - Korea is a team of action, their coach a man of few words
WUHAN, China (26th FIBA Asia Championship): Korea coach Hur Jae is a man of very few words. The regulars to the post-game conferences here would vouch that there is not more than a mono syllable answer that you can expect from the 46-year-old. Probably, he doesn’t need to since his team takes care of the most of the action on the court without any trouble as they did against Chinese Taipei in their 82-61 win.
There’s this calmness and ‘you-can’t-read-my-face’ expression about Hur that is indirectly proportional to the intensity and ferocity his team has shown so far which catapulted the East Asia Champions to right on top of the leading contenders’ list for the Championship.
“Of course we want to win the Championship but there is a lot of difference between wanting and winning,” he said nodding in satisfaction about the team’s performance.
Ha Seung-jin got some court-time today, but nothing noteworthy in his 5-minute stay, but considering that the 221-cm center was coming from an injury, and Korea didn’t need him to do anything for this win against Taipei, his presence may be taken as only positive.
Cho Sung-min (pic above) was in devastating form as usual for his game-high 19 points and naturalized forward Moon Taejong came up with his contribution of 15 points.
“They are crucial for our progress in the tournament,” Hur answered a question in the affirmative.
Four wins on the trot has brought Korea to a head-on collision with twice defending champions Iran an encounter which on Wednesday will decide who tops the Group E.
“They are a good team. We will prepare for them,” was all Hur would say.
Taipei had their moments – like a 7-0 run midway towards the end of the first quarter – but those were sporadic, and just not sufficient to stop the Korean juggernaut.
Taiwan vs. Korea