J-Mart2
Dear Leader
As every year since 2004, the puertorrican newspaper publish an article remembering the historical victory of the Puerto Rico basketball team over the United States (August 15 is close to being a holiday here 
). This years edition is kinda interesting since it features coach Toro. 
PrimeraHora.Com Article
By: Raúl Álzaga Sánchez-Bretón
What the game meant to him...
"It's the best game I have coached in my life."
"I have great memories from the game where I coached Venezuela against the United States National Team that featured Michael Jordan and company at the Pre-Olympics at Portland in 2002. But there is no good loss. In sports, the goal is to win and I achieved beating a "Dream Team" 12 years later while coaching Puerto Rico, and not in a agonizing way. It was a clear victory and on that particular moment we played a lot better than them."
About the strategy...
"He asked me not to play zone (on a previous exhibition game). I played a matchup zone during a quarter at the second exhibition game, it worked and i hide it for the rest of the game. That gave me an opening of which kind of defense they didnt liked"
"For my luck in that Puerto Rico edition i had the necessaru personel to play that kind of defense which is not a zone, neither a man to man, but a perfect mix between those two. There are times where you have the idea but not the personnel to execute them and a good example is the Tex Winter's triangle offense, that worked so well for the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, but not on other teams. I can say that about the matchup zone."
"Like 30 minutes before the game, I was meditating and had a flash from the unconcious of my mind. It was obvious that Duncan was the focus of their offense and that in every possesion the ball went through his hands. From that, I started to adjust the defense for us to create a sandwich around Duncan. I had Rolando Hourruitiner on Duncan because he has long arms, he could front him well and was a smart player that knew how to anticipate the other teams. Then I doubled Duncan with a big man, while on the backcourt I always had pressure on the ballhandler:
"Then the United States transformed themselves into the "Wild Wild West". A whole lot of shooting but no aiming. Everyone of them was armed and ready to shoot after a pass or two. They got desperate and that worked on out favor."
"The americans closed the score to seven points with the "Gorilla Basketball". They wanted to take the game away hitting us. But Carlos Arroyo banked a three pointer which took the air out of them. Then Rolando stole the ball and scored a layup. In the blink of an eye we were ahead in double figures and the americans were out of it. After it, everything was happiness. We had the opportunity to be childs again and celebrate."
After the game:
"When we got to the Olympic ville, the news spread around like powder and they gave us a great welcome, specially the argentinians. Their coach, Ruben Magnano, their assistants and those who were with them hugged us and congratulated us. It was a great moment which gave the other teams confidence that they could also do it.
Versus Lithuania:
"When we took the court, the Lithuanians starred at us like they could belived what they saw. Like if they were thinking "Damn, they dont look that big, that strong, not that fast, How they beated the United States? It was funny"
After the olympics:
"People who maybe didn't knew me that well, were shaking my hand with respect and saying "Coach, good job". NBA coaches like Rudy Tomjanovich, Mike D’Antoni, Nate McMillan and Jerry Colangelo..."
stay tuned for next years edition
the 5th aniversary!
). This years edition is kinda interesting since it features coach Toro. PrimeraHora.Com Article
By: Raúl Álzaga Sánchez-Bretón
What the game meant to him...
"It's the best game I have coached in my life."
"I have great memories from the game where I coached Venezuela against the United States National Team that featured Michael Jordan and company at the Pre-Olympics at Portland in 2002. But there is no good loss. In sports, the goal is to win and I achieved beating a "Dream Team" 12 years later while coaching Puerto Rico, and not in a agonizing way. It was a clear victory and on that particular moment we played a lot better than them."
About the strategy...
"He asked me not to play zone (on a previous exhibition game). I played a matchup zone during a quarter at the second exhibition game, it worked and i hide it for the rest of the game. That gave me an opening of which kind of defense they didnt liked"
"For my luck in that Puerto Rico edition i had the necessaru personel to play that kind of defense which is not a zone, neither a man to man, but a perfect mix between those two. There are times where you have the idea but not the personnel to execute them and a good example is the Tex Winter's triangle offense, that worked so well for the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, but not on other teams. I can say that about the matchup zone."
"Like 30 minutes before the game, I was meditating and had a flash from the unconcious of my mind. It was obvious that Duncan was the focus of their offense and that in every possesion the ball went through his hands. From that, I started to adjust the defense for us to create a sandwich around Duncan. I had Rolando Hourruitiner on Duncan because he has long arms, he could front him well and was a smart player that knew how to anticipate the other teams. Then I doubled Duncan with a big man, while on the backcourt I always had pressure on the ballhandler:
"Then the United States transformed themselves into the "Wild Wild West". A whole lot of shooting but no aiming. Everyone of them was armed and ready to shoot after a pass or two. They got desperate and that worked on out favor."
"The americans closed the score to seven points with the "Gorilla Basketball". They wanted to take the game away hitting us. But Carlos Arroyo banked a three pointer which took the air out of them. Then Rolando stole the ball and scored a layup. In the blink of an eye we were ahead in double figures and the americans were out of it. After it, everything was happiness. We had the opportunity to be childs again and celebrate."
After the game:
"When we got to the Olympic ville, the news spread around like powder and they gave us a great welcome, specially the argentinians. Their coach, Ruben Magnano, their assistants and those who were with them hugged us and congratulated us. It was a great moment which gave the other teams confidence that they could also do it.
Versus Lithuania:
"When we took the court, the Lithuanians starred at us like they could belived what they saw. Like if they were thinking "Damn, they dont look that big, that strong, not that fast, How they beated the United States? It was funny"
After the olympics:
"People who maybe didn't knew me that well, were shaking my hand with respect and saying "Coach, good job". NBA coaches like Rudy Tomjanovich, Mike D’Antoni, Nate McMillan and Jerry Colangelo..."
stay tuned for next years edition
the 5th aniversary!