Jece Leite rues Corinthians in loss to Pinheiros, demands response | OneFootball

Head coach Jece Leite showed dissatisfaction with Corinthians’ performance in the 95-65 loss to Pinheiros last Monday (18), in the first game of the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB) semifinal. After the match played at Ginásio Henrique Villaboim, the coach pointed to a lack of intensity and mental issues as decisive factors in the negative result.

Corinthians struggled mainly with defensive rebounds, which allowed the opponent multiple offensive possessions throughout the game. For Jece, the team was below expectations in terms of physical commitment in the paint.

Photo: Beto Miller

“It’s about effort. I think we fell well short. I believe everyone had it in them to put in the effort for a game as important as this, to chase an even bigger milestone for the club and for each one of us. But we were well below that. We needed more effort, because rebounding, above all, is about effort. So if we don’t challenge them more firmly, with more physicality, we’re going to have problems in the other games too,” he began in the mixed zone.

The numbers back up the coach’s analysis. Pinheiros finished the game with 47 rebounds, including 19 offensive boards, while Corinthians recorded only 33 in total and just seven offensive rebounds.

In addition to the physical difficulties, Jece also highlighted the emotional aspect as one of the problems Timão faced throughout the game. According to the coach, the team lost confidence as the score gap grew.

“As I was saying about effort, about desire, there are also those basketball factors. They had a few shots that bounced around, kicked out and still fell for them. They hit important shots — not that they don’t have the quality to do that — but there comes a point when the gap gets so big that the rim starts to look like a bucket. Meanwhile, for us, the rim looked like a sink drain. So it becomes much harder. The spirit, the mindset, they’re not in a good place, and the game starts slipping away, because this is a very mental game. It’s much more mental than physical. I’m talking about physicality, but the mental side makes you, even with a smaller body than the other guy, play harder than someone bigger than you. So we lacked that mentality today. It’s a mature team, a team with a strong mentality, but today we were far below what we really are,” he said.

After a balanced first quarter, which ended 24-21 for Pinheiros, Corinthians saw the opponent dominate the second and third periods, opening up a wide lead on the scoreboard. Timão won only the final quarter, but without managing to mount a comeback.

Now, the club from Parque São Jorge will try to level the series in front of its home crowd at Wlamir Marques. Jece reinforced his confidence in the support of the Fiel for the upcoming games.

“We know what the Fiel are like, and we know they’ll be there, always supporting us. Now we have to respond and do things very differently from what we did today, especially in terms of desire, to go after the result and not let it slip through our hands,” he concluded.

Corinthians will face Pinheiros again this Wednesday (20), at 8 p.m., in the second game of the NBB semifinal. The third matchup takes place on Saturday (23), at 6:10 p.m., again at Ginásio Wlamir Marques.

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