2019-09-13T19:41:54+00:00

2019-09-13T19:41:54+00:00

2019-09-14T08:30:28+00:00.

Australia assistant coach Luc Longley believes his squad deserved to win in the World Cup semifinals against Spain which has the ‘basketball gods’ on its side

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Australia assistant coach Luc Longley made himself available for a few questions after the double-overtime loss against Spain in the FIBA World Cup semifinals. And boy did he have things to say.

The ‘Boomers’ lost to Spain in the third-place match at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, in a close match as well (89-88), and that served as extra motivation this year but once again, they fell in the last moments. Longley feels as if they should’ve won this time around and feels as if they should pray to the gods for some… affection:

“It’s so similar. It’s fu-in’ very similar. I think, in Rio, I also think we deserved to win it. It’s just a fu-in’… I don’t know what we’ve gotta do. We’ve gotta find an altar somewhere and burn a sacrifice, or do something for the basketball gods because they’re not kissing us on the di-k yet like they do Spain. You can print that if you want,” he said, per Olgun Uluc, and repeated:

“Spain gets kissed on the di-k by the basketball gods every time we play them.”

He also talked about how the squad feels after the loss: “They’re furious. They’re crushed and furious. Where their fury is directed, I can’t tell you. Probably all over the place. It’s very quiet in there. That’s the team we lost to in Rio, but we felt like we deserved to win it. We felt like we played well enough to win it. Yeah, it’s pretty quiet in there.”

And gave a piece of advice to the team: “My advice to the guys is to take care of their bodies second, take care of their minds first. Do what they’ve gotta do to express all of that frustration without costing them physically, without doing anything to jeopardize. We’ve got a bronze medal game coming. I know it’s a consolation prize, but I’d sure like a bronze medal. I still don’t have one.”

Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL

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