Satria Muda vows to bounce back in IBL finals
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Defending Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) champion Satria Muda Britama is determined to battle back in the do-or-die second game of the final against Hewlett Packard Aspac.
"We will fight to get the second game and are set to do some brainstorming to decide our strategy," Satria's coach Fictor "Ito" Gideon Roring was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Antara news service.
His team lost 59-40 to Aspac in last Friday's first game of the best-of-three contest. The second game will be held at the Bung Karno Basketball Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Friday.
If Satria wins, the deciding game will be held at the same location on Saturday.
Ito said he was unable to sleep the night of his team's loss, believing his team could have handed the undefeated Aspac its first loss of the season.
"We would have beaten them but for our terrible start," he said after his team practiced in Senayan.
"Basically, (for the next game) we will try to limit the turnovers that occurred in the first game and that were seized upon by our opponents," the former national center said.
He added that his players would be warned to watch out for Aspac's "big man" Hari Suharsono, who ripped through their defense in the opening match.
"There will not be any special guarding of him. Aspac players are perfect, all five starters must be closely guarded, so it's difficult."
Satria Muda center Octaviano Permata was also confident his team could win.
"As a team, we're not outclassed by them, we can compete with them but we need to be calmer."
Aspac, who lost 0-2 in last year's final but have used an all- out attack to dominate the 2005 competition, vowed last week that they would inflict a defeat by the same scoreline against their longtime rivals.
But pride is on the line for Octaviano, who said he suffered nightmares for two consecutive nights after the loss last week, and his teammates.
"We won't let Aspac win 2-0 and allow them to remain undefeated this season," he said.