London 2012 Olympics: Archibald says chances missed by GB basketball team

Robert Archibald admitted his frustration after Great Britain’s winless 
start to the Olympic basketball tournament continued last night with a 67-62 loss to Brazil.

The hosts were left to rue late mistakes as the Brazilians came from behind by scoring 11 of the game’s last 16 points to leave GB joint-bottom of Group B.

It was a golden opportunity blown, Paisley-born centre Archibald admitted.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” the former NBA player said. “There were stretches where we felt we had the game where we wanted it. But that’s been a recurring theme this summer. We can’t close games out.

“Marcelinho [Huertas] just killed us in the pick-and-roll. We let him get to the spots on the floor where he’s most effective, and we paid the price for that.”

Team GB were ahead 11-4 at the end of the first quarter, but Brazil pulled it back to 27-27 at half-time. The South Americans pulled ahead by five at the end of the first quarter, and held that advantage to the end despite some strong play by the Brits.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead GB, who went 51-48 ahead in the final quarter when Nate Reinking hit a three-pointer. But San Antonio Spurs centre Tiago Splitter, who scored a game-best 21 points, sparked a decisive late 7-0 burst.

“At this level, you can’t give possessions away,” Archibald said. “These are good teams, and in tight games they’ll punish you. We have to maximise our chances.”

Team GB’s Andrew Sullivan added: “We are really disappointed, but we have got to pick ourselves up for a big game on Thursday [against Spain].

“We matched up well with Spain [when previously playing them]. We have three games left and want to win our last three games, because we didn’t come here for it to come down to the last two games to get through.”

Dan Clark said: “It’s disappointing. If we play hard like we did today then we are capable of beating any team in the group.”

Britain’s women will bid to break their duck today against Russia.

Related topics: