Bonn's coach responds to cheating allegations during BCL semifinal / News - Basketnews.com

Tuomas Iisalo said that it's normal practice in the NBA and called it a good moment that the discussion about whether the normal practice of showing full timeouts should change has begun.

Credit: YouTube/Basketball Champions League; Twitter/SoldadosOkouo Credit YouTube/Basketball Champions League; Twitter/SoldadosOkouo

Telekom Baskets Bonn pulled off an upset in the Basketball Champions League (BCL) semifinal against Unicaja Malaga. However, the coaching staff of the German team was noticed using what was described as underhanded tactics.

Player of the Game EFF 14 TJ Shorts II Points 21 Accuracy 5-13 Rebounds 1 Assists 7

When both teams headed to their respective benches for the timeouts, one of the Bonn assistant coaches looked and listened to what Unicaja's head coach Ibon Navarro instructed his players to do during the intermission.

It was noticed by one of the fans in attendance and quickly gained ground on social media with even Unicaja's Kendrick Perry responding to it, calling the actions "underhanded tricks and tactics".

The day after the game, Bonn's head coach Tuomas Iisalo, who was earlier named BCL Coach of the Year, was asked about it in the pre-game press conference and provided an in-depth answer.

"We use live tagging during the games, we always have one who's going situation by situation, which I think every top-level team pretty much uses. The only feed we have is the feed that's provided to us, that's the live feed from the games. We go through different situations, for example, defensive choices the opponent makes during the timeout, so the video coach would come and inform one of the assistants who would then relay the message to me of what type of changes have been made, and I think this is a very normal part of the game," Iisalo said.

"When you look at NBA games, they have iPads for the players on the bench when they come in, so they get a mental image of what's going on over there. We don't see any reason why our assistant coach should close his eyes during the timeouts if this is what the media and the competition want," he explained. "If they want to change the format, then go ahead, but as long as it's happening and is for everybody to see, I don't see any type of issue with this."

Telekom Baskets Bonn / Schedule

Unicaja Malaga Telekom Baskets Bonn67-69 Telekom Baskets Bonn Hapoel JerusalemSun17:00

Later on, the coach addressed the difference between what's going on in broadcasting in Europe when compared to the NBA.

"In life and in sports, there seems to be a need to open everything up for the audience so they can peek into our lives, that's why we have fake pep talks for the teams, so the audience can see what's happening inside the locker room. That's not what's happening inside. In this day and age, you cannot say the actual things that you're going to say for this specific reason," the specialist told the media. "In the NBA, they have found a solution for this. They don't show the timeouts, they don't show the tactical things, they show the timeouts with a delay later on, which obviously removes this entire issue."

"Nobody thought about it, they just copied something that they thought was a way to make money," Iisalo continued. "It's a side heist these days to just do what the big boys are doing and there's always going to be repercussions. Nobody thought of this [before] and hopefully, this will raise some questions about what it means to be on a team and how intimate that is, and whether everybody should have access to everything that happens within the team. I'm happy this discussion is taking place."

After beating Unicaja in the semifinal, Bonn will take on Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem in the final after the Israeli team pulled off an upset, defeating Lenovo Tenerife on Friday. The final is scheduled for 20:00 CET on Sunday, May 14th.

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