The Nigerian men basketball team could not sustain their brilliant start to the 2012 Olympic Games as they lost their second game.
Bakare, who spoke at the post-match conference at the Basketball Arena, said injuries and sickness, as well as technical lapses were responsible for the loss.
``It was actually a close result as we played well and tried our best. But we have had a couple of injuries and sickness to deal with in the past two weeks, and this affected our depth,'' he said.
The coach said the situation ensured the technical crew could not rotate as many players as it would have wanted during the match.
``It is not just about Ade Dagunduro, who got injured during the game, but Ekene Ibekwe is still down with sickness, just like some two or three others that cannot step onto the court.
``In addition to this, we couldn't keep up with the Lithuanians' pace and we committed some mistakes too,'' he said.
Bakare refused to blame his team's loss on complacency, saying that it was impossibility as he and his players knew what was at stake.
``It is impossible to be complacent. Everybody is motivated about playing here at the Olympics. We are all driven to the level of knowing that this is the Olympics, the highest level of basketball.
``That we lost was not because we under-estimated our opponents. If anything, our loss was about some things going wrong,'' he said.
The coach, however, expressed his reservations about the officiating, saying that some of the officials took some things personal.
``The game was poorly officiated, and I must say this, even though I don't like making comments about officiating.
``A couple of the referees took some things personal. Referees have to rise above egos and feelings. One of them in particular was too bad,'' Bakare said, without naming any particular referee.
The match had as its referee, Cristiano Maranho from Brazil, while KassemDa'Adouch from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was Commissioner.
Canada's Stephen Seibel and Vitalis Gode from Kenya were the Umpires.
Bakare,however, heaped praises upon the Lithuania, the team they beat 86-80 about two weeks ago at the Olympics Qualifiers in Caracas, Venezuela.
``We must not take anything away from the Lithuanians. We failed to keep up with their pace and played badly not to win, while they played well to win.
``They deserved their win, no doubt, the issue about the officiating was just my own personal comment,'' he said.
D'Tigers' next game in this Preliminary Round Group A is on Thursday against the U.S
No comments:
Post a Comment