Additional Quotes >> USA 113, Dominican Republic 59
July 12, 2012 • Las Vegas, Nevada
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Jerry Colangelo
On Blake Griffin:
I know that there is information out that he might have a torn meniscus. We donąt know that for certain and we are awaiting official word on his status. We also have been told that he is going to have another opinion or another doctor look at him in New York on Sunday. So, it is going to be a few days before we know his official status. Until we do we canąt do anything official. If he is going to be able to come back he will and we will be told so. If he canąt he has to officially withdraw and then we're free to make an official replacement on our roster. In the interim, Anthony Davis will be with us. He is an alternate and that worked out and created a great opportunity to get some minutes in tonight. That was great to see.
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Mike Krzyzewski
On tonight's game:
We were really pleased with our effort tonight. There have been a lot of distractions, not Vegas distractions, but contract, injury, different situations during these first eight days. Overall one of the things we wanted to accomplish here was to develop good camaraderie. Guys seemed to get along really well. They pull for each other and they play hard. Now we have to translate that into an effective system both offensively and defensively and they have to get to know one another and we have to get to know them in this context. I was pleased with the unselfishness of our team, the defensive intensity, the fact that we really shared the ball and we got a lot of minutes for everybody tonight.
On training camp in Las Vegas:
Las Vegas has been amazingly supportive of this program. Everybody, the fans tonight, the sellout crowd and what an atmosphere. I hope we get that one in London. The people in Las Vegas have been so good and for us to get the win they treated us very well.
On Blake Griffin:
Blake was playing really well and we are hoping that his knee is going to be fine. If there is something wrong that it’s not anything serious.
On playing the Dominican Republic tonight:
There’s a lot of good teams out there. The Dominican Republic is a good team but they’d just been eliminated. They are well coached. The good thing is they played a number of games so you play against a team that’s played a number of games. They are not fighting for something. Once you get to the Olympics everyone is fighting for something so you’re going to see something different. To me rebounding is going to be a key thing. We have to have good rebounding and we’re not as tall as we were in Beijing. We are little bit like the World Championship team in Istanbul, Very, very similar and I think we are more talented than the World Championship team but we can get small compared to some of the international teams.
Dominican Republic head coach John Calipari
On the game:
This was a hard game for us coming off what happened in Venezuela. Our kids fought hard. But let me say this. The score is indicative of how good the USA is. They don’t put a weak player on the floor. Everyone on the court can do things with the basketball. Obviously they will get better and better. They are really good. Every player who walked on that court played hard. They competed at a high level.
On Anthony Davis:
I told Coach K that the opportunity for Anthony to be with this team is going to put him ahead in his career two or three years. Coach K did a great job with Derrick Rose. Look at the year he had when he came back. I think the same thing can happen for Anthony. This is an unbelievable opportunity.
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How was the atmosphere tonight?
“Sellout crowd the fans were great. There was a lot of USA pride in the building tonight and we came out here and did what we had to do. Early on we let down a little bit but early in the 3rd quarter we turned it on.”
Talk about the strengths of this team:
“Right now we are a very athletic team, probably more athletic than we were in 2008. The guys that we have play a lot of different positions and can do a lot of different things and that showed tonight... It is like a dream. I get a rebound, I push the ball up the floor and I have Kobe (Bryant) one way, Lebron (James) one way, I have KD trailing and I got Chris Paul out there too. It is kind of surreal.”
What was the team able to get out of the win tonight?
This is where the journey starts. It started here tonight. I said yesterday that this is a statement game for us, not just with the opponent we played against but for us as a team to see where we stand as a unit…It was a lot of fun on the bench. A lot of guys were talking positive especially with (Russell)Westbrook pressuring the ball and getting steals. We had fun out there.
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Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers)
On Tonight's Game:
Tonight was a little bit of a tough gauge, we kind of overwhelmed them with our speed but I think defensive boards for us are always going to be a challenge. Us guards and forwards are going to have to do a good job to get in there and rebound the ball.
On Anthony Davis:
I thought he played extremely well, we really rallied around him as we rally around everybody else. But, particularly him because he's so young. It was a great opportunity for him and he played extremely well and played with a lot of confidence.
On Blake Griffin's Injury:
It's a very big blow, I wish he could still go with us just to be around because we have all kind of have become close here in Vegas playing together and getting to know each other but health comes before everything.
On cheering from the bench:
We're all extremely close and we all pull for each other.
On Beating the 1992 Olympic Team:
If you're asking me if we can beat them one game, hell yeah we can them one game. You're not asking me if we can beat them in a seven-game series, but in one game, yes we can beat them.
On having good team chemistry:
It means a lot because obviously when you're going overseas you're playing against teams that have played together for a while so you to have that chemistry and understanding of where guys are going to be.
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Tyson Chandler (New York Knicks)
On tonight's game:
The first half I was real tight, legs were heavy, timing was off, but second half I got a little more lose out there, a little more relaxed and I was able to make things happen
On Carmelo Anthony:
Melo is a great scorer and he's going to come out and provide that for and he's tough to guard at the 3 or the 4 wherever he's out there.
On Preparing for the Olympics:
I really want to continue to get in great shape, not just good shape, great shape so I can do some things defensively for the team, you know, coming off the court, pressuring a little bit and challenging every shot and going after every rebound offensively and defensively.
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Anthony Davis (New Orleans Hornets)
On tonight’s game:
It was a great experience. The guys told me to just relax and breathe. I started to get a feel for things and started going with the flow. I felt very comfortable. Melo told me to take a deep breath and said that it’s just like college. You are just playing ball. When you step on the floor just go out and have fun. That’s what I ended up doing. And it was good to beat Coach Cal.
On his status with the team:
Blake is still on the team and I’m just filling in. I just came in and filled in Blake’s spot for the night. No one has given me an indication yet of what I’m doing so hopefully I will figure it out tonight.
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Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder)
On the atmosphere of the game:
It’s fun to be here and represent our country. So many people came to support us. It’s great to play in front of the soldiers who protect us and give us the freedom to do what we love to do. All-in-all it was a fun camp and we’re lookgin forward to going to DC.
Do you feel that you picked up where you left off with international ball?
I have to give a shout to my teammates. They did a great job of finding me. Everything felt like it was in rhythm. I was stepping into the shot. LeBron’s a great passer, D-Will (Deron Williams) had 10 assists, he’s a great passer. Everyone was passing the ball well tonight. We had 27 assists, so if we can do that as a team, we’ll be fine.
On playing with Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James:
It’s fun, because those guys play so hard and I’m just trying to play up to their level. We can score on defense and we can get out and go on offense, so it was fun playing with those guys. They make the game easier.
How was the decision made for you to come off the bench?
Coach just said before we went out on the floor that Melo (Carmelo Anthony) was starting and I was like, ‘that’s cool with me,’ Whatever the team needs. That’ s something we may do down the line, but I really don’t know. It was a little different coming off the bench, you know? I was there for three or four minutes, but then he left me out there for the rest of the first (quarter). So, either way I felt good.
What does this team have to work on?
We have to rebound better, execute better. I think our passing was good. We got out on the break. Guys played hard. There was a little stretch there in the third or the fourth, I can’t remember, but we were able to get three or four steals in a row and we were able to get it to the rim, get fouled and get dunks.
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Was it special to be playing for Team USA?
“Definitely, it is great to be alongside all those guys. Coach K does a great job of shifting in different lineups. We were trying to get a feel for it and we did a pretty good job for our first game out.”
Does the versatility of your team make it difficult on opponents?
“Carmelo (Anthony), Lebron (James) and KD (Kevin Durant) can all play any position one through four. We can switch in different lineups and it makes us very dangerous because LeBron can be at the point guard or at forward, Kobe can do play anywhere, the flexibility of our lineup make our team really difficult to guard.”
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Andre Iguodala
On tonight’s game:
We have great guards – Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams and Chris Paul are great defenders and not just off the ball but on the ball. They are gonna create steals where we are gonna get out on transition.
I liked our start even though we didn’t have that huge burst at the beginning. I felt like we moved the ball well and we didn’t force any shots. We got good looks that just didn’t fall and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the night where we were just going to work the game and we knew we were going to win and we played the right way from the beginning.
On his role and the unselfish play of the team:
It’s something Coach K talked about in one of the meetings. He wanted guys to want to have two types of egos – one ego just to go out there and representing your country and have the ego of your role. My role is sort of playing defense and pushing the tempo, pushing the pace and trying to cause some havoc out there. Russell has that similar role out there as well so when he and I go in the game we always talk about “let’s turn it up”. If we are up ten than by the time we come out we want to be up 20. If the game is close by the time we come out we want to have a cushion for our guys to finish the game off.
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On Tonight's Game:
It's going to start with defense and defensive rebounding and we get stops and give ourselves a good chance to win each and every game. We started
off a little slow, didn't make every shot but we got into the flow and got it going.
On The Reaction to Blake Griffin's Injury:
That only comes up if someone gets hurt. You can get hurt doing anything, you can get hurt working out in the summer time as well but it sucks for him and it sucks for everyone that's been hurt. you never want that to happen especially in the summer time and I just wish him a fast and speedy recovery.
On Cheering from the Bench:
That's what we're going to do, no matter who is in the game we're going to cheer each other on. We want each other to play at the highest level no matter who's in there. It was a complete team effort.
On Beating the 1992 Olympic Team:
What do you want me to say? That we'd lose? I mean it's never going to happen, it doesn't matter how much we debate about it. I would have loved to play against that team, but I'm not going to come out and say we'd lose to them, that doesn't make any sense.
On Team Chemistry:
We have five guys from the 10 team and four or five guys from the 08 team and the chemistry is good, it's great, honestly. We've only been together for a week and it's going to continue to improve as we move on to DC it's going to continue to improve and we'll see how we come out in the next exhibition game, but we're looking forward to it.
More on Team Chemistry:
With our team, someone has to come of the bench. I'd come off the bench too if coach asked me too. It shows what kind of team we have. When you have a two-time scoring champ coming off the bench, you see what he's able to do. He's able to come in and get right what he's able to do and that's scoring the basketball and that's going to make our team very successful.
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Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves)
How does the athleticism of this team help you?
It makes the game easy playing with these guys. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to fight and play as hard as we can every night, but having this type, this caliber of players on our team really makes everybody step up their game as a whole.
The team really played hard tonight, diving for loose balls and everything else, even though this was only an exhibition:
Absolutely. We’re trying to put it on for our country. When you put on this jersey, there’s a sense of pride for us, a sense of patriotism. So, we just want to get out there and play as hard as we possibly can, no matter who we’re playing, no matter what night it is. At the end of the day we’re going for the gold on August 12.
At the level your team played tonight, do you think it’s a high enough level to paly for the gold medal?
No. We’re going to have to play better. We’re getting better every single day, so I feel that tonight we forced the DR into a lot of turnovers and we had a lot of assists. But we know that as time goes on we’re going to get stiffer and stiffer competition, especially getting past these friendly games and heading into the Olympics.
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Chris Paul
On the slow start to the game:
Well the first couple minutes everyone was winded out there. I think it had to do with everyone being anxious and wanting to play so hard. Once everybody got their second wind it wasn’t too bad.
On Blake Griffin:
I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet but I’m going to call him as soon as I get on the bus. I just want to make sure he is doing well. That’s the top priority. He was so excited to play in the Olympics. This is tough for him.
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Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder)
What was it like going out there tonight with this team?
It was good. It was fun. It’s gonna be a great trip.
On his athleticism:
That’s what I do. That’s my job. Everybody has a role and my job is to stay in attack mode.
On Anthony Davis’ play:
First time playing here, he looks good. Great length. He looks good.
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Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets)
On Tonight's Game:
Timing, things are going to be off at first, my rhythm wasn't good on shot, but those things will come as time goes on.
On His Game:
I'm a shooter, but we've got weapons all over the floor. My job is to the two and give guys the ball and get guys the shot.
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