Corinthians forward/centre and guard assess win in second NBB semi-final | OneFootball

On the night of last Wednesday (20), Corinthians faced Pinheiros at the Wlamir Marques Gymnasium, in Parque São Jorge, for the second game of the semifinal series of the 2025/2026 Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB) season, and defeated their opponent 98-84. As a result, with the win, the Corinthians squad leveled the playoff series at 1-1, after being beaten in the first game, played last Monday (18), away from home, by 95-65.

Moments after the final buzzer, young forward/center Kauan Raymundo spoke with journalists in the mixed zone and talked about his individual form. In yesterday’s game, he posted 19 points, six rebounds, and one assist in the 19 minutes he was on the floor for Alvinegro.

Photos: Beto Miller/Corinthians Agency

“It’s a very important moment for me, but I think it will go down as just one more game. I think it’s the first of many, I want to do more and do better. And that’s what Victão said, we needed to come here, wake up, with a different energy. The difference between the teams is not that. Man, with all due respect, we know what we’re capable of and we needed to send them a message, to say that that game over there is not our team, that won’t define us in this series,” he began.

Later, he detailed the team’s halftime talk with coach Jece Leite. Corinthians went into the break with an 18-point lead on the scoreboard – 63 to 45: “The halftime message was that we wanted more. We knew the game wasn’t won, that they would fight until the end. That’s a characteristic of their team. And maybe we dropped off a little, but our focus stayed the same. We wanted more from the start. And the message in the last quarter was to do what we had been doing in the earlier quarters. We knew we were capable of it. We wanted to keep the same focus, the same desire, and discipline,” he continued.

Finally, the 21-year-old player looked ahead to the fourth and fifth games of the national tournament semifinal series, which will be hosted by Pinheiros, who had the better record in the regular season – finishing second. Timão ended in sixth place with 27 wins and 11 losses. He also highlighted the importance of the Fiel fans in the games at Wlamir Marques.

“You saw them there, they didn’t stop singing for a single minute from before the game started until it ended, even after. They sang from start to finish, so there’s nothing else to say. It’s surreal energy. I’m very grateful to be playing for this team. I’m very thankful to the fans and I hope Saturday brings even more. We’ll always want more,” he concluded.

Kauan Raymundo made his debut for Corinthians’ professional basketball team in August 2022 and, since then, has played 142 games for Timão, with 86 wins and 56 losses. In addition, he has totaled 526 points, 352 rebounds, and 58 assists. Corinthians and Pinheiros will face each other again this Saturday (23), at 6:10 p.m. (Brasília time), at the opponent’s home court, for the fourth game of the series.

Elinho

Speaking to the press in the mixed zone, Timão point guard and club idol Elinho urged caution regarding any excitement over a possible spot in this season’s NBB final: “There was doubt over there at Pinheiros too, but we didn’t know how to use that in our favor. We played way below our level in that game there. And that’s it, I think in the playoffs every game is its own story, it’s a game where you can’t. We didn’t carry the score over. We have to take it day by day.”

“I don’t think we can think about that or even talk about it. We can’t talk about advancing, about the final, any of that, it’s the semifinal. Their team had a sensational season. They were in first place for a long time, they’re a very strong team. Saturday won’t be a game like today. So I think that’s it, I think it’s what I said. We have to take it day by day,” he said.

In 177 games for Corinthians – he has defended the club since 2023 – he has 98 wins and 79 losses, totaling 1,755 points, 749 rebounds, and 1,497 assists. His contract runs until the end of 2026.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.