By Larry Fine
LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) – The show must go on, U.S. men’s
basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Monday, dismissing the
idea that it would be hard to get his formidable array of NBA
stars motivated for Tuesday’s game against overmatched Tunisia.
Tunisia, ranked 32nd by international basketball federation
FIBA and without any National Basketball Association (NBA) or
European League star power, earned their place in the 12-country
tournament by winning the African Championship.
“It’s not awkward at all,” the coach of the reigning Olympic
gold medal winners told reporters before a practice session.
“You have a performance to give. Whether you’re doing it at
a Wednesday matinee or a Saturday night. It’s not who you are
playing.
“You should never judge how you’re going to perform on
potentially who you are going to play against. You are the
person performing, you are the team that’s performing,”
Krzyzewski said about the pride his players have.
The coach said taking it easy against an opponent that lost
their opening game to Nigeria 60-56, was a dangerous attitude.
“You never want to get into the habit of just getting by,
because eventually you don’t get by,” said Krzyzewski. “Our goal
tomorrow is to make sure we play hard and have good habits and
are as sharp as we can be.”
Krzyzewski said there was plenty for his players to work on
as they grow more comfortable with the international style of
play and noted that he continues to learn on the job as well.
“The main thing I learn from is their training methods and
their concepts of how they look at the game,” he said.
The man who has led Duke University to four NCAA titles and
11 Final Four appearances and coached the U.S. national team to
a 55-1 record with Olympic and world championship titles to his
credit, said he has benefited from the experience.
“They’re artists, really. They’re veterans and this is their
profession and they want to play it the right way. When we’re
talking about defensive and offensive concepts, I get their
input and learn from the person who is actually doing it,” said
Krzyzewski.
“In college you don’t do that, they’re learning from you,”
said Krzyzewski. “So over the seven years we’ve been doing this,
you learn a lot being around Kobe (Bryant), and Jason Kidd and
LeBron (James), and all these guys.”
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
