梦八教练:“我们将面临严峻挑战”
US expect hard battle for gold, says coach
The growth in international talent means the US men's basketball team face a "tough challenge" to win Olympic gold, head coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Monday.
"Basketball around the world has exploded. Thirty percent of the NBA are international players, and many of the teams we face ... will have a starting five of five NBA players," Krzyzewski said in Macau, where the gold medal favorites will play exhibition games against Lithuania and Turkey before travelling to Beijing.
"It will be a tough challenge for us."
The US have won 12 Olympic men's titles but their supremacy has slipped in recent years.
Team US finished with bronze four years ago and were third at the 2006 worlds.
Previous US teams have been all-star squads tossed together just weeks before the Games and Jerry Colangelo, managing director of the US team, said "that was good enough, but that's not the case anymore."
The players "wanted to see this thing turned around because there is pride in representing our country and the commitment that was made three years ago means that the core players have been together for the past three years, and that's a big difference," he said.
NBA top scorer LeBron James, who was wearing a US basketball shirt printed with the words "Together we rise", said confidence would be the key.
"Every time we step onto the court we know we have the talent and we know we have the strength to go out and be the best team out on the court. So, we have to be confident to go out there and play the way we want to play," he said.
Krzyzewski later clarified that "we're trying to be very confident. That doesn't mean over-confident.
"We don't have anything to be complacent about."
James will play in Beijing despite an earlier right ankle injury that he described as "healthy".
Basketball is extremely popular in China and will be one of the hottest tickets at the Beijing Games. |
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