Iran coach impressed with Gilas, says China is Fiba Asia fave

FIBA Asia FILE PHOTO

TAIPEI – Reigning Asian champion Iran knows that playing on home soil has a great advantage, that’s why coach Dirk Bauermann thinks China is the favorite to win the Fiba Asia Olympic qualifier set in China’s Hanan province later this month.

“The Chinese team is the favorite,” Bauermann said on the eve of Iran’s clash with Gilas Pilipinas in the Jones Cup here. “Playing at home is always a huge advantage, and then I think it’s the Philippines, it’s us and Korea.”

The region’s powerhouses are going for everything in Changsha from Sept. 23 with only one slot staked for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Though even with holdouts from several PBA superstars who were in the Gilas squad that finished second to Iran in the Manila event on 2013, Bauermann has been pretty impressed with the Filipinos here.

“They’re very good, they’re very deep,” Bauermann said of the Filipinos. “They play super hard. I just like the way they play.”

The last Philippine victory over Iran came in the 2012 Jones Cup, 77-75, with a Marcus Douthit-led five taking full advantage of the absence of 7-foot-2 NBA veteran Hamed Haddadi.

In the Fiba Asia title game in Manila in 2013, Douthit played less than five minutes and Gilas didn’t have an answer to Haddadi.

It will practically be for the championship in their 1 p.m. clash on Thursday and Haddadi will be a well-rested spearhead after the Iranians sacrificed their game against the United States on Wednesday afternoon.

“You can’t play eight straight games, that’s impossible,” Bauermann said of sitting Haddadi out against the Americans and losing big.