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September 2, 2006 / Saitama, Japan
 USA
HEAD COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI
On the USA's Bronze medal victory over Argentina:
I think this game showed what this team has shown the last 45 days
or so, that these guys are really proud to represent our country. We had
a few bad minutes against Greece and they’re a great team. Our guys
showed a lot of heart. This is our first step towards Beijing, That’s
what we talked about today, not just winning third place. The whole thing
was to get ready for the Olympics. Our three captains, especially, showed
a lot of heart today.
General Comments:
Argentina and our team both played their hearts out yesterday in losses.
I know their team has the heart of champions. But, they were a tired team
tonight. We were too, but because we played the earlier game, we were
a little bit more refreshed.
I thought it was an excellent game. I think if the teams were fresh,
that we would play at an even higher level. I’m sure that we’ll
be playing them again in the future and hopefully not in a third place
game. It was an honor for me to compete against the Argentina team. I
have admired them in watching international basketball for the past few
years. And, the job that their players and staff have done… they
have really helped raise the level of basketball worldwide with their
camaraderie and just the toughness that they play. They are a terrific
group. We admire them and we’re pleased, of course, to win the game
tonight.
On comparisons with worldwide basketball:
What I think is that worldwide basketball is terrific. There are really
three different games that are played by our country. We play and NBA
game – that if the world played, it might be different results. Then
there’s an international game, then there’s the collegiate game.
So, when you cross-over from one to another, in worldwide basketball,
I think it’s up for grabs. There are so many good teams and so many
good coaches. The talent level worldwide has sky-rocketed. But, they are
different things. It just depends on what you judge it by. If you judge
it by international basketball, it’s wide open for everybody.
On the win tonight and keeping the USA
FIBA No. 1 ranking:
The main reason I am glad we won is because we haven't been together very
long and for these guys to show the character it took to come back the
next day after a tough loss was terrific. That means we have accomplished
quite a bit in terms of building the unity of our team. That’s what
we’re trying to build in international basketball.
If we kept that “No. 1” ranking (in FIBA rankings), that’s
terrific. The main thing was that we handled adversity very well.
Does the bronze medal soften the blow from
yesterday?
I don’t know? Greece is a great basketball team. To lose to them
is not a blow. We learned a lot in that game. What we’re trying to
do is build an international program for our country, which has never
been done. It’s not going to be done in one year. Over a three-year
period, while we’re in charge, we hope to lay the foundation upon
which other coaches and other administrators can .. give the respect to
worldwide basketball that it deserves. That’s what we’re trying
to do. So, our performance here… we would have liked to play for
the gold medal and won it. I thought we represented basketball well. We
handled ourselves properly and we played hard. We didn’t play well
enough to win the whole thing. But there were very positive steps in the
direction that we’re trying to go and make that the consistent thing.
No one is going to win this or the Olympics every time from now on because
there are just too many good players. Basketball has grown so much. Argentina
is a perfect example. They are terrific. Spain… Greece… these
are really good basketball teams and I think our guys know what they are
up against.
Hopefully, our country realizes the commitment that is needed to play
this level of basketball.
Do you think there should be one type of basketball, then there would
be no excuses?
I hope you didn’t take what I said as an excuse. I love all
three. I would tend to agree with you, that hopefully, in the future,
there would be some way of combining all of them. I think that would create
an even higher quality of play worldwide. I don’t know when that’ll
happen, but I think that would be a good idea.
 CARMELO
ANTHONY
How much better do you feel now,
than 24 hours ago?
Yesterday was kind of a disappointing day. Unfortunately, we didn’t
reach our goal but it’s not the end of the world. We have next season
and we have ’08 in Beijing. We learned a lot from this experience
and we’ll continue to get better, like we did in this tournament.
What did you learn?
Greece came out and played really, really hard to the end. It kind of
shocked us. They won the game, so we have to prepare for next season.
Coming in, we wanted to win this... win the world games, than take next
summer off but get ready for Beijing in ’08. Now, we’ve got
to get ready for next summer in Venezuela and again in ’08 in Beijing.
On the good crowd and atmosphere:
I think a lot of people came out and wanted to see the USA vs. Argentina.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be in the championship game.
On the game itself:
It was a gut-check game. A lot of people said that the U.S. was going
to fold after losing last night to Greece. I take my hat off to my team
for coming out here and competing in the bronze medal game.
Everybody knew that Argentina is one of the best teams in the world.
I think we came out and even though it was the bronze medal game –
we proved something. Tonight showed a lot of guts.
On team chemistry:
People can question anything, but don’t question our chemistry. I
think we did a great job of putting this team together. Our chemistry
– we came a long, long way from the first day in Vegas. We got along…
1-through-12, we got along off the court. I think that was the difference
between this year and in ’04. It’s a great feeling that I know
I get to hand ... with ‘this clown right here…” –
pointing to LeBron James – and Dwyane, Dwight, CP (Chris Paul) and
some of the young guys. Hopefully, we can keep this group together and
keep moving forward.
 SHANE
BATTIER
On the play of Dwyane Wade in the
fourth quarter:
He was pretty amazing and that was fun for us to watch. You could
see in his eyes that he was really feeling it. I don’t know if he
thought he was back in American Airlines Arena in Game 6 of the Finals,
but he was something special tonight.
Was it hard at all to get up for this
game?
Not really. We worked so hard, it would have been a shame to come
in and lose our last 2 games. A bronze medal is a lot better than air,
a lot better. We were playing a really good team in Argentina, one of
the best teams in the world and a team that had success against us in
the last couple of international competitions, so we really wanted to
come out and win this game. There are guys on our team who had lost to
Argentina, so this game was very important. This wasn’t about sending
any messages, we just wanted to play well against them and we did.
Any talk about 2007 yet?
We know we are going to reconvene next summer with a renewed spirit
and qualify for the ’08 Olympics and take the momentum that we started
here and really build on it. We feel good about where we’re at and
we feel good about the momentum we can take with us. We are one of the
youngest teams here and this experience will be invaluable down the road
as we build towards Beijing.
We came into this looking to learn about ourselves and how we can adjust
to the international game, which is very different from the NBA game.
It’s a different mindset, a different way to play, a different way
that it is coached. And it is an adjustment for guys who are used to laying
90 or 100 games a year with the NBA rules.
 CHRIS
BOSH
On feeling tonight, as opposed to 24 hours
earlier:
We knew it could’ve gotten a lot worse. It’s better to go home
with something. We could’ve gone home with nothing. We ended on a
winning note. We had a lot of preparation for the next two years.
On the three-year commitment:
From the standpoint of getting back together and working on chemistry
a lot – we will be working on our offense and getting used to the
rules. After playing a whole season, everybody will get back to their
NBA ways. But, next year, there will be time to adjust and play some more
FIBA basketball and get used to it.
On the possible inclusion of others from
the 20+ member national team:
As long as those guys come in and we’re all looking forward to working
with each other and everybody competes for the 12 spots, we’ll continue
to build. Everybody has to have a team mind going into next summer.
What does the team need to do to get to
the next level?
You see today, we set a lot of ball screens, we ran a lot and we were
more aggressive on the offensive end. There were times where we were caught
looking, but we made sure we moved a lot. We played better defense and
we made them shoot over us. I think that helped us out a lot.
 KIRK
HINRICH
Your reaction to one of the Argentine
players saying they wanted to force you to play what he calls FIBA basketball:
It is a different game. It’s an adjustment for all of us.
As we build towards the Olympics, we are going to have to do a lot better
job of playing FIBA basketball. The international style of ball is based
more on team play and ball movement.
About today’s game:
It was a good win tonight. Obviously it wasn’t (bronze medal)
what we wanted to do, but Argentina is a great team and we’re just
happy to get the win.
Talk about coming back strong tonight
against a great team after a disappointing loss to Greece yesterday:
It’s hard any time you play in a consolation game. We came
here and had our eyes on the gold and we fell short. It showed a lot of
character for the team the way we bounced back and were able to get the
win. It wasn’t what we wanted, but we still feel like we made a step
towards winning the gold in the Olympics in two years especially because
of the caliber of team that Argentina has. It was a game of lesser significance
than both teams wanted, but we are happy with the win and the way we played.
Was it hard to get up for the game?
At the end of the day we were still representing our country and
still competing and every time you step on the court you try to do your
best.
 DWIGHT
HOWARD
On tonight’s game:
We put together a good team for this year and, with time; we’re going
to get a lot better. With these teams that we’re playing against,
they played together for a long time and they really know each other.
For us to get to that level, it would be great.
Were you surprised at the level of play?
No, I’m not surprised. Everybody comes out here and they play
hard. They represent something more than themselves… their country.
Once you are doing that, you give 100 percent and that’s what those
guys did, every team we played.
When you received the medals, you guys
held your heads high:
Well, we wanted to win the gold. We were disappointed. Going home short-handed…
but, at least, we came out with something. We captured the hearts of a
lot of fans overseas. Fans from Japan and China were really cheering for
us. It was good to have some support.
 LEBRON
JAMES
Are you satisfied that you were able
to come back and win the bronze?
No, I’m not satisfied. You never want to be satisfied. I’m
happy that we didn’t lay down, that we didn’t mope and moan
abut what happened yesterday.
We moved on and played a very good team in Argentina today and played
probably our best game of the tournament.
Was this your best game of the tournament?
I didn’t want our guys to get down. We did a good job of focusing
on today. The result isn’t exactly what we wanted to happen, but
we have gotten better since we started training camp.
Does this send a message that this whole
thing has not been a failure?
I think it does. We didn’t accomplish what we wanted to but
we’ve gotten better and USA basketball is growing…again…for
the United States of America.
What has to happen to take you guys where
you want to be?
We have to keep improving. Do what we’ve been doing and that
is improving. It’s been a long road since mid-July when we started
camp. We’ve gotten better and we’ve become a family. We have
to keep striving, keep learning international basketball.
How has the approach to international
basketball for you, Dwyane and Carmelo changed since 2004…you have
been through two international tournaments now?
It’s changed a lot. We know how important it is. We know what
t takes to win in FIBA basketball games, what it takes to win in international
competition better now. It’s a whole different game. You have to
change your mindset and forget about the NBA. Just forget about and know
that you are going into a whole different basketball game.
Did you say you were loving FIBA basketball?
Oh, for the time I’m here, yeah, you’ve got to. For one,
I love basketball period. It doesn’t matter if it’s FIBA or
it’s the NBA or I’m at home playing with my son. I’m just
happy to be a part of the game. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving
the NBA (laughter), but it’s been great.
Was playing the point, was that something
you guys talked about ?
That is something that coach talked about this morning. It was
a great adjustment by coach. I played point guard for a good part of the
game.
Would you be comfortable with this in
the future?
Yeah, whatever it takes for our team to win basketball games at
that particular moment. I think my athleticism, my length can disrupt
some of the opponents’ point guards defensively. In international
basketball the offense for most teams is run very crisp and if you can
knock it off balance a little bit, it can help us.
Was there anything symbolic about starting
the three captains tonight?
We just tried to show that we had no “give up.” As captains,
we couldn’t let our team go down, losing 2 straight after having
had a successful tournament, a successful training camp, a successful
exhibition tour.
 DWYANE
WADE
Opening general statement:
First, I want to give credit to Argentina for making this a very classy
third and fourth place game. It’s was very exciting and everything
it was pumped up to be. Everybody thought it was going to be the finals.
I’d like to give credit to my teammates, I have a lot of respect
for the guys for coming out and playing our hearts out when a lot of people
thought we would give up.
It’s a great step in the direction that we’re
trying to get to in 2008. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while,
just being around a great group of guys. We all gained relationships.
We all gained respect for each other. This summer was not a waste for
us. We learned a lot and we’ll move forward.
Did you win something here, or are you
going back to America having lost the ‘gold?’
No question, we lost the gold. That was evident yesterday. But, we are
going back with our respect. We’re going back with our heads up high.
This is a three year commitment; it’s a three year stand for all
of us. So, this was a step in that direction. Myself, LeBron and Carmelo
are the captains of this team and we want to let these guys know that
we’re all here together. No matter what happened yesterday, we had
to come out here and win this game. If we lose two, that wouldn’t
be good.
You really carried the team in the fourth
quarter, you seemed to really have good energy:
Actually, I was kind of
tired. But, in the fourth quarter, I saw that ‘Melo really didn’t
have it going today. Coach kept me in, so it was time for me to be a captain
and be a leader, step up and win this ballgame. That was my only thinking.
I got some shots to go and got out on the break and got a couple layups,
so that added to the flow.
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