Iran's Haddadi: "best team we played is the Philippines"

Iran won its third FIBA Asia Men's Basketball crown on Sunday night but had to face a determined Gilas Pilipinas squad in the championship game at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Iran wound up winning 85-71 but faced several tense moments, especially in the first half as Gilas, despite playing without center Marcus Douthit, managed to remain within striking distance.

"We did not play so good in the first half, and I think in the second half, we played better and better. We played defense, and we won the game and got the championship," said Iran's Hamed Haddadi, who had 29 points and 16 rebounds and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Hadadi was impressed with how Gilas managed to play well on both ends of the floor despite missing Douthit, who sustained a calf injury against Qatar in the quarter-finals.

"They missed their center in Marcus and I think they still played very good defense and offense. They got good fast break and the three-point shots," Hadadi said. "Sometimes we cannot stop them on the fastbreak, and they can score."

"I think the best team we played is the Philippines," he said. Hadadi also acknowledged the Filipino basketball fans, saying: "We know the Philippines is a great team, and they have 20,000 people supporting them in this game."

Iran won all nine of their games in the tournament by an average winning margin of 32.4 points, including a 90-point blowout of Malaysia in the first round.

The team's head coach, Mehmed Becirovic, backed up Hadadi as he said that the final was the "toughest game" that Iran played in the tournament.

"We know there are 20,000 fans behind the Pilipinas team, and they play very well," said Becirovic, who marveled at Gilas' ability to feed off the crowd's energy.

"They find every time, new energy, new energy and new energy to fight until the end, so it was very difficult," he said. "But in the fourth quarter, we got a little bit better on defense."

"We scored some fast breaks, and we had some good passes inside to Hadadi, who was unstoppable because Marcus was injured. This was our big advantage."

Iran has won three of the last four editions of the tournament. Along with Gilas Pilipinas and third-placer South Korea, Iran will compete in the FIBA World Cup in Spain next year.

article source: abs-cbnnews.com

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