Elinho and Gabriel Novaes on Corinthians' first Paulista defeat | OneFootball

Corinthians suffered their first defeat in the Campeonato Paulista de Basquete on Saturday night (15). At Ginásio Wlamir Marques, Timão hosted Sesi Franca for the fourth round of the state tournament and was beaten 79-77 in a closely contested game decided only in the final minutes. The result ended Corinthians’ unbeaten run in the Paulista. In addition to losing the lead, the club was also overtaken by Mogi Basquete, Sesi Franca, and Club Athletico Paulistano.

After four rounds, Timão has three wins and one loss in the competition. After the game, point guard Elinho and center Gabriel Novaes, in an interview with TikTakaSports, analyzed the black-and-white side’s performance. Both players acknowledged the quality of the opponent, but also highlighted aspects of Corinthians’ own game that could have made the difference in the pursuit of victory.

Photo: Beto Miller/Ag. Corinthians

Elinho first emphasized the importance of every result in the Campeonato Paulista. Because it is a short tournament, the player pointed out that there is little room to recover lost points over the course of the competition.

“That’s what the Paulista is. It’s going to be a very quick tournament. We knew how important it is. Every game is very important in this Paulista. If you win, you’re at the top; if you lose, you fall behind. There’s no way to recover. But that’s it. Their quality is unbelievable. We played a good game, and we lost Betinho early on. That’s a very important piece for us. I think we were just missing a little in being able to defend the way we did in the second half. In the first half, we couldn’t impose that more aggressive defense, with more intensity. But that’s it. I think there’s still a lot to happen at the start of the season.”

In addition to mentioning Betinho’s early exit from the game, Elinho pointed to the team’s defense as one of the factors that weighed on the result. In the point guard’s view, the team managed to show a more aggressive approach in the second half, a characteristic that did not appear in the same way during the first half.

Novaes highlights details that made the difference

Gabriel Novaes also assessed Corinthians’ performance after the setback. The center played an important role during the game, especially in battles near the paint, but stressed that, despite the team’s good performance, the negative result cannot be overlooked.

For the player, small details, such as missed opportunities near the basket and defensive rebounds that slipped out of Corinthians’ control, had an impact in a game decided by just two points.

“A loss is a loss. It was by two points, we played well and all that, but a loss is still a loss. We have to work, adjust the details. I believe we played very well today. We had a good game, and we know how good they are. A little shot here, one that I myself missed under the rim, one more defensive rebound that we could have grabbed. Today, a lot of balls bounced long and we ended up losing possession. But that doesn’t take away our merit. I believe the work we’ve been doing has been really good. We’re confident and we’re moving on to the next game.”

Even with the first defeat in the state tournament, Novaes showed confidence in the team-building process for the season. The center valued the work done by the squad so far and indicated that the focus now is on correcting the details that showed up in the match against Franca.

The team coached by Jece Leite returns to the court next Wednesday, the 19th, again in the Campeonato Paulista. In the fifth round of the first phase, Corinthians visits Paulistano at 8 p.m. (Brasília time) at Ginásio Henrique Villaboim.

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