(Asian Games) Unified Korean basketball coach blames OT loss on defensive breakdowns
By Yoo Jee-ho
JAKARTA, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- The unified Korean women's basketball team suffered some defensive breakdowns in its overtime loss to Chinese Taipei at the Asian Games on Friday, its head coach said.
Lee Moon-kyu said the 87-85 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei could have been prevented with better effort on the defensive end.
"We made some tactical changes to defense, but since we didn't have a lot of time to work on it, there were some missed signs among players," Lee said at GBK Basketball Hall.
Lee is coaching eight South Koreans and three North Koreans, who have only been together since Aug. 1. They won the first game over Indonesia easily, by 108-40, but Chinese Taipei provided a far tougher challenge. Chinese Taipei shot 52 percent from the field and 37 percent from downtown.
Lee shortened his bench, with three players not getting into the game and two others, Choi Eun-sil and Park Ha-na, only seeing six and five minutes of action, respectively.
Korea had a chance to beat Chinese Taipei in regulation, but Kim Han-byul missed a free throw with 6.2 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Chinese Taipei regained its shooting stroke in the extra session, and Korea went just 2-of-27 from three-point range in the tough loss.
Of three North Koreans, point guard Jang Mi-gyong and center Ro Suk-yong were in the starting lineup, and Lee was effusive of both.
"I think they both exceeded my expectations," the coach said.
Ro scored a game-high 32 points in 38 minutes on 12-of-17 shooting and had eight rebounds, after leading the team in scoring with 22 points against Indonesia. Jang, who ran the offense for 36 minutes, had seven points to go along with six assists and three steals.
The loss dropped Korea to 1-1 after two games, and the team is in second place in Group X behind Chinese Taipei. There are two groups of five in the tournament, and the top four nations from each will advance to the quarters.
Should Korea hold on to the second spot in Group X, it could potentially have a rematch against Chinesee Taipei in the semifinals.
For his part, Lee sounded rather certain that Korea would have just that matchup in the knockout stage.
"Though we lost this game, I am not too worried, because we'll meet again in the semifinals," he said. "We'll have to address our defensive problems quickly."
Korea's next game is against India on Monday.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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