The Indian males’s basketball group will look to conclude its dwelling leg of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers on a constructive be aware when it faces off in opposition to a resilient Kazakhstan aspect on the Nehru Indoor Stadium right here on Monday.
With three losses in three video games to this point, India is languishing on the backside of its qualifying group, and a loss in opposition to Kazhakstan may nearly finish its hopes of securing a spot within the match Finals in Saudi Arabia subsequent August.
The group is coming off a disappointing 53- 69 loss in opposition to a lower-ranked Qatar aspect on Friday, in what was head coach Scott Flemming’s first aggressive take a look at since taking on the aspect for a second time in Might.
Regardless of Flemming’s claims that its largest energy lies in three-point taking pictures, India managed to attain solely 10 out of the 40 tried three-pointers throughout the conflict in opposition to Qatar.
“I don’t suppose we ran out of fuel. I don’t suppose we performed poorly. We have been down by 5 after the primary half, and if we had come out and hit the primary three or 4 pictures, we may have been up by a pair,” Flemming stated after the loss to Qatar.
“Perhaps we should always have attacked the basket extra, however we’re not going to beat nice groups with out taking pictures the ball properly,” he added.
After three rounds of matches within the qualifying match, India is ranked twenty third out of 24 nations when it comes to three-pointer conversion price, with 24.1 per cent. Palestine sits on the backside with 22.9 per cent.
In opposition to Qatar, Indian captain Muin Bek Hafeez was the one respectable shooter from the three-point line, scoring 5 out of his seven makes an attempt within the first half.
Then again, Kazhakstan is coming into the match after handing group topper Iran a default win (20-0) after refusing to journey to Tehran for his or her conflict within the earlier spherical. Regardless of this, the nation sits second with slim wins in opposition to Qatar and India.
Within the reverse fixture performed in Kazhakstan, the house aspect got here again from a first-quarter deficit to beat India 63-50.
Rustam Murzagaliyev has been the standout performer for the aspect, main the charts in effectivity per sport (14.0), factors per sport (16.5) and assists per sport (4.0).
“They (Kazhakstan) will not be very athletic, however they’re a superb group,” Flemming stated.
“However we’ll be prepared. We’re an up-tempo group, and Qatar sort of took us out of that rhythm. We missed most likely 4 or 5 straightforward layups after we have been trying to make it again into the sport. So hopefully we get some and convert easier baskets in opposition to Kazhakstan,” he concluded.
India wants to complete within the high two of its group to ensure a spot within the 16-team Finals. If India locations third, it would enter a playoff spherical with the opposite 5 third-placed groups for the remaining 4 spots.
Squad: Amjyot Singh, Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu, Harsh Dagar, Kushal Singh, Muin Bek Hafeez, Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi, Arvindh Kumar Muthu Krishnan, Prashant Singh Rawat, Pranav Prince, Palpreet Singh Brar, Princepal Singh