GB captain Sullivan discusses Portugal victory
Following Team GB’s dominant third quarter comeback in an 83-68 victory over Portugal, Drew Sullivan wasted no time in addressing GB’s first half issues in a way only a Captain could:
“The first half didn’t start how we would have liked. We came out the blocks really slow. But we picked it up in the second half and won pretty convincingly in the end.”
Sullivan acknowledged that even though Portugal were not heading to the Olympics in the Summer, they still had their strengths and were not to be taken lightly: “They’re not a bad team. They’re a good team, an experienced team, they’ve played together for many years.”
With the bitter taste of the first half performance still in the mouths of Team GB as the second half got under way, the third quarter defensive clinic helped cleanse the palate. Portugal were held to only six points in the third, unable to penetrate the opaque GB defence:
“Defensively, we turned it up a lot – they weren’t getting easy looks,” said Sullivan of the difference between the first and second half. “For an international game, to hold a team to under 10 points is pretty impressive.”
Team GB will have a chance to complete a clean sweep of Portugal on Sunday as the two sides clash at Ponds Forge (tip-off is at 3:00pm), for only their second game on home soil in 2012.
“It’s good to be back, spend some time back in England. Getting a chance to practice and play here and then, for us, a chance to see some family,” revealed Sullivan. “It’s good to be back in front of our home crowd essentially. I thought it would have been nice to have more bums in seats but I guess everyone is saving their money for Thursday! (laughs).”
Thursday, is of course, the date Team USA come to town, the game the world will be watching. But GB’s focus will have to be solely on Sunday’s opponents because as Portugal showed in the opening 20 minutes of tonight’s game – if Team GB don’t bring their A game, their European opponents will gladly help themselves to the victory.