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August 30, 2006 / Saitama, Japan
DIRK NOWITZKI
On the semifinal matchups
(USA vs Greece)
It'll be very physical. They both have got good shooters. It'll be a real
battle.
(Spain vs Argentina)
I think Spain vs Argentina is the same way. Both semifinals will be fun
to watch. It's going to be a great finish to the tournament
On any advice for Greece?
Not really. Their coaching staff will figure out a game plan that will
give them a chance to win the game.
 USA
HEAD COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI
On the game with Germany:
Their substitution plan was excellent. When we had two bigs, they
had Dirk go to the ‘five’ and brought in four shooters. I thought
they did a really good job. I thought our guys played the best defensively,
in a pressure situation that you could.
We didn’t shoot the ball well. We also missed a lot of shots right
by the basket. We got a little a head of ourselves. Defensively, we forced
24 turnovers and we out-rebounded them. The things that win ballgames
for you, our guys did.
LeBron, I don’t think people have talked about him as a defensive
player. But, tonight, he was a really good defensive player. Kirk Hinrich
was truly amazing with his ball pressure.
At the start of the second half, it was as good as I’ve seen. We
won, not having a good offensive night and you have to give credit to
Germany for that. Not just that we missed, but they put us in that position
to miss shots and I thought we kept our composure and we didn’t lose
sight of it on the defensive end.
That was the story of the game.
On Dirk, was this the player you expected
to see?
He is a great player. He commands so much attention. We put a lot
of different guys on him. Shane (Battier), Chris Bosh did a really good
job... LeBron, Carmelo. He’s the center of attention for everything
we’re doing defensively. And, his teammates play off of that. Even
if he didn’t have a number of points, he put his teammates in a position
to get good shots. He is a real team player.
I thought we did a good job on him. But, by doing that, it opened up
a few other things for their players. I am happy with our performance
defensively. I thought we couldn’t have played better in the second
half. We needed that.
On the way the team executed its half-court
offense against the zone:
I was pretty happy with the way we executed. I didn’t like
the way we finished it. When we review the tapes, we’re going to
see in the first half that we didn’t finish. It wasn’t outside
shooting. We had about 8-to-10 shots within a foot of the basket, that
we didn’t finish. When you don’t do that it looks like you’re
bad. What you are is – you haven’t finished. In the second half,
we had good looks and I’ll win or lose with guys taking those shots.
I have confidence in my guys. What I liked about them, is, it never interrupted
what they were doing on the defensive end. It shows a mental toughness
that sometimes… that sometimes, a team… - we haven’t been
together all that long – to show that type.. that’s great. I
love that about these guys. They show that mental toughness. We’ll
shoot alright on Friday and hopefully on Sunday. I have every confidence
in the world about that.
Like I said in my opening statement, it’s not like Germany didn’t
play that well. They played a great game. Coach’s game plan was so
well conceived, and subbing and changing defenses. We didn’t get
a rhythm. We didn’t get the fast breaks and that.
 CARMELO
ANTHONY
We're going to have nights like that when shots don't fall. Our
shots didn't fall tonight. But, we did it on the defensive end.
We know that shots that we've been taking, we've been hitting. So, we
know we're capable of making the shots. The only thing you can do is to
keep shooting. Coach told us to keep shooting them and we did.
We figured out that we weren't making our shots in the first half, so
we picked it up on the defensive end.
On the shots coming from three-point range?
That's what was open. They sat back in the zone and we swung the
ball and the three was there. We missed a few 'chippers' that were there.
That's a shot that we normally will make.
On USA team mood at halftime in the locker
room:
I think everybody was cool. Everybody just wanted to relax. We
wanted to win the game all in one play in the first half. All in one shot.
We calmed down and got the job done.
Coach K told us that we're going to have nights like this. We knew we
had to do it with our defense.
 SHANE
BATTIER
On Shane having Dirk off his rhythm
tonight:
I think I got lucky. He doesn't have too many nights like that.
I didn't do anything special. I tried to get under him and - in the international
game, you are allowed to be a little more physical than you are in the
NBA. I just tried to make him work for shots. He had a couple, where he
just missed. He's still one of the best players on the planet in my book.
On Greece and the semifinal maches:
It's down to the final four and the four best teams are still alive to
win the championship. That's the way it should be. It's very exciting
to play a team in Greece that is the reigning European champion. They
have a very experienced team and a very physical team. It's going to be
very difficult game for us.
I'm excited to play against Spanoulis. He's going to be my teammate.
I'm going to tell him hi, just like I told Yao (Ming), that I'm going
to try to beat your 'butt' and you can try to beat mine. But, in a few
weeks, it'll be nice to be on the same team.
On the USA game plan against Germany tonight?
Our game plan was to make Dirk work. Dirk is one of the best players on
the planet. I thought we did a nice job of shuffling pressure defenders
at him and - just making him work. He missed a few shots that he normally
makes, but we'll take that tonight.
 CHRIS
BOSH
You had another strong game—active
at both ends of the court
That’s how I play. That’s how I’m going to get minutes.
I realize that. It helps the team out and I am happy to get in there and
display that.
Talk about the defensive play that you
and several others did on Dirk Nowitzki, imiting him to 3 of 12 from the
field:
That’s what we wanted to do coming into the game. We wanted
to contain him. We felt if he struggled, they would struggle. It was a
real good team effort in defending him.
 ELTON
BRAND
About his play today:
Everybody has to do what he has to do when he gets the opportunity
out there. Our depth is one of our advantages in this tournament. We have
a lot of guys who are very capable at each position. When everybody is
playing and playing well, that’s when we expect to win.
About the play of Joe Johnson and Chris
Bosh today:
Joe Johnson had an excellent game today. He had 18 points, his
highest output of the tournament thus far and was active at both ends
of the court. Chris Bosh played great. He came out with a lot of energy,
deflected some passes and played great defense for us today.
About playing against Germany as next your
opponent:
Of course, Germany has Dirk Nowitzki, a great NBA player. They
also have Okulaja who played at North Carolina and he is a very solid
player. They will be tough and we will have to be focused.
What are your feelings playing here, having
been a part of the USA team in the last Worlds?
As the only holdover from that team, I definitely want to avenge
that, play well and win.
Do you hope to play against Argentina?
We are taking them one game at a time. If we do play them, it should
be a good game. I have played against Argentina a few times in the past
–in the Worlds, in qualifying tournaments and they always play hard
and they always play with a lot of pride.
 KIRK
HINRICH
Game vs. Germany tonight
We were able to tough it out tonight. We didn’t get out to
the start we wanted to. To our credit, we battled. I think it was a good
win for us. It was a hard fought game. Germany played well. We’re
happy to get the win and move on. We know the stakes are getting higher
and that we are going to have to play a lot better.
On the defense on Nowitzki tonight:
We did a really good job defensively on Dirk. Shane, Chris, everybody
got on him. They did a great job doing everything they could. Against
a guy like Dirk you can play great defense and he can still have a great
night. He missed shots tonight but I think that what they did defensively
had a lot to do with it.
On the uselfish play of the team:
t’s been good. Tonight to start the game we were kind of holding
the ball a little bit. It wasn’t selfishness, we just weren’t
moving the ball like we should have been. Then we came out in the second
half and our defensive pressure picked up and when we do that and force
teams into doing something they’re not used to doing, it plays into
our hands.
The crowd tonight was into the game:
It was great. That’s what makes basketball so great—to
have a good environment. It seems like each game they’re getting
louder and we’re looking forward to the remaining games.”
On playing Greece next:
We know they’re a good team—strong, physical, hard-nosed
and ready to play, but we have been focused on Germany for the last 2
days. We’ll look at the tapes and go over the coaches scouting reports
and get ready for Friday. To be able to beat Greece we’re going to
have to have our best performance.
 LEBRON
JAMES
Opening Statement:
It was a very competitive game. I think the German national team did a
great job of packing in the zone early and we missed some early shots.
We came out in the second half with the defensive mindset that we needed
to get some stops and get out and run. We were able to take control of
the game in the third quarter. It was a good game.
On struggling against the zone in the first
half, is it hard to play against that type of zones when you are not used
to it in the NBA?
It’s not hard for us. We missed a lot of easy shots that we’re
capable of making. We have to take the shot. When it’s there for
us, just take the shot and knock it down. They did a good job of packing
in the zone and making us shoot. We missed some early shots. But, we never
got down on ourselves. The same shots we missed in the first half, we
made in the second half. We made the adjustment.
On semifinal – the USA vs Greece:
It will be a very competitive game. The Greece team is very good. They’ve
been together for a long time. We have to have the defensive mindset that
we had in the second half today and try to do it for 40 minutes on Friday.
It’s going to be a tough game, so we have to come out with our ‘A-plus’
game, so it’s win or go home. As the USA team, we must maintain our
focus. Go out and win and take care of business.
On Dirk Nowitzki:
Dirk is one of the guys that is just unstoppable. We tried to send as
many defenders at him as was possible. Shane Battier did a great job early.
Then, I got a chance to guard him a little and did a pretty good job on
him. You just want to try to contain a guy like that and some of his shots,
you just hope he misses. Defensively, we played really well. He only got
off 12 (shot) attempts. This was good defense by us. He’s a good
player, a phenomenal player.
 JOE
JOHNSON
Was Coach K disappointed with your play in the first half?
I don’t think he was disappointed, but we needed to pick up our energy.
We have tended to wait until the second quarter or second half to do that
and we have to learn to start the games out right.
Shots weren’t falling early, did you have
to find a way to get by that?
It wasn’t a great shooting
night tonight. I thought it was okay, we started making shots in the second
half, but our defense was great. We made it tough on Dirk and his teammates
and that’s what it is about. We have to play great defense to win
a championship.
On playing Greece next:
We are going to come out hard. We need to take care of business
on our end. We need to make sure that we are ready and prepared to play.
We have to keep working, we’ve got to get better and better each
day. We know we have our hands full coming up. We’re going to prepare
tomorrow and get ready for Greece.
 CHRIS
PAUL
Did you believe you could play FIBA rules and play this well, as a team?
The best thing to help this team was Las Vegas. We got an opportunity
to play with each other, get familiar with, not only the rules but playing
this up-tempo style of ball.
On facing a zone defense:
We practice against it. We practice against a man-to-man, too.
But, we practice against a zone a lot. Over the years and this year, a
lot of teams try to zone us to contain us. We have so many athletic players,
so we’re adjusting to it.
On playing the most minutes:
I don’t expect it. It varies from game to game. The coaches do a
great job of setting a rotation and trying for an equal number of minutes.
The hot hand also plays a little.
On a point guard playing with Carmelo,
LeBron…
Words can’t describe it. I’m pushing the ball up the court and
I have some of – not only the best players in the NBA, but the best
players in the world, running with me. Whatever decision I make, whoever
I pass it to, I can’t make a wrong decision.
On Greece:
They are very talented. We will have to bring our ‘A’
game. The coaches are doing a great job of scouting them. Tomorrow, we’ll
learn a lot about them.
On the offense tonight, the USA was executing
its offense but the shots weren’t falling?
We did a great job of making the extra pass. Some nights, the shots
just won’t fall. Thankfully we won and we’ll get another opportunity
against Greece.
 DWYANE
WADE
Are you playing better each game
as you get used to FIBA rules and style of ball?
You like to think we are. We are getting used to the rules a little
bit, the style of play some. The only thing we can do is to continue to
practice and play. We cant worry about any rules or where we are playing.
We just have to lay the game. When we do that, we’re a pretty talented
team.
What do you think about your team taking
40 three-pointers tonight?
The shots were open. I don’t think anybody really forced their
shots. They played zone and let us shoot them. We didn’t hit as many
as we wanted to, but we still won the game. We were doing something right
to win by 20 points.
What was your feeling about beating Dirk
tonight after you also beat him in the NBA Finals?
It wasn’t about beating Dirk, it’s nothing like that,
it was just about beating Germany and moving on and or team did a great
job about taking care of business. When things were looking rough for
both teams, we found a way to pull it out and that is what it’s all
about.
Playing against Greece next:
There are just four teams left and when it’s like that, everyone
is good, every team has it’s own special ability. Greece is going
to be very aggressive, very confident. It’s going to be a great matchup.
The next two matchups , with us and Greece and Spain and Argentina, are
going to be “must-see” games.
Did you see Greece play tonight?
No, I didn’t. I was getting prepared to play Germany.
Germany’s game plan was to slow you
guys down. Were you thinking that at half-time?
Not really. They went zone and gave us a lot of open shots, shots
that I feel we would normally hit. We also missed a lot of layups. I was
1 for 11 and most of my shots were right at the rim. It was just one of
those nights. But we found a way to win the game.
Were you surprised that Dirk didn’t
play up to his game?
I didn’t want him to! (laughter). Surprised? I am happy. But
it was a great defensive effort. Not only Shane Battier, but LeBron James,
Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony.. we sent 4 or 5 different people at Dirk
so he saw different looks all night. I think our coaches did a great job
of telling us what to do. You can’t stop a guy like that, you can
only make him take tough shots and I think we did a great job of that.
Other players on Germany stepping up, like
Okulaja (15 points)
When you take away the other team’s best player from making
the shots he usually does, someone has to step up and score, but we’ll
take that. We’ll take Okulaja scorig 15 points or even a little more
rather than Dirk scoring 40.
What do you think of Argentina?
I haven’t even thought of them yet. We’ve had other teams
to prepare for.
What about the injury you suffered in the first
half?
Actually, I tried to avoid an
injury by not going up and dunking the ball. I missed the layup and tried
to come back and get it and then I get smacked in my nose. But I’m
okay. I messed up my GQ photo shoot for a little while, but I’ll
bounce back.(laughter)
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