West Asia Super League: Tamil Nadu draws confidence from 91-104 loss to Iran's Shahrdary Gorgan
West Asia Super League: Tamil Nadu draws confidence from 91-104 loss to Iran's Shahrdary Gorgan
After falling behind by 31 points with a little over 7 minutes remaining in the game, Tamil Nadu sprung to life to trim the margin of defeat to just 13 points.
What looked like a second straight blowout loss, turned positively for Tamil Nadu, thanks to an unexpected fourth quarter scoring surge.
After falling behind by 31 points with a little over 7 minutes remaining in the game, Tamil Nadu sprung to life to trim the margin of defeat to just 13 points. Bench players Prashant Singh Rawat, P Baladhaneshwar and Lokeshwaran Mohan were key contributors in this late run.
Loss that feels like a win
While this may seem like an inconsequential silver lining for most other clubs, for a victory-starved country like India, a 13 point loss to one of West Asia’s top clubs - Iran's Shahrdary Gorgan - almost felt like a win.
No doubt valid arguments can be made that Gorgan simply took its foot off the gas, comfortable in the knowledge of an imminent win. But from Tamil Nadu’s point of view, the final seven minutes served as a confidence booster ahead of the final game against Kuwaiti club Kazma on May 28.
Can Tamil Nadu secure India’s first WASL victory?
At the risk of oversimplification, considering that Kazma too lost to Gorgan by a near identical margin, Tamil Nadu Coach CV Sunny will be hopeful of India’s first ever victory in its West Asia Super League debut.
With the promise of multiple professional leagues around the corner - both from BFI and private entities - any signs shown by a regional Indian team of being able to hang with West Asia’s top clubs - will inspire much needed confidence that Indian basketball players are talented enough to be worth investing in.
Tamil Nadu (P Baladhaneshwar 19 pts, James Farr 18 pts, Pranav Prince 15 pts, Prashant Singh Rawat 14 pts) lost to Shahrdary Gorgan (Sina Vahedi 26 pts, Diamond Louis Stone 17 pts, Arsalan Kazemi 11 reb) 91-104 [20-29, 17-23, 22-29, 32-23]
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