TEAM USA: POST GAME QUOTE 對푸에르 토리코전

출처: USA 바스켓볼 <Larry Brown, USA head coach> Q: Opening Comments: I'd like to congratulate Puerto Rico. They played as a team. They were well prepared, their coaching was incredible. They played so much harder than we did, so much better as a team. The result is no surprise because when you do that, that usually happens. I don't know what we can get out of this game because the first day we got together as a group we talked about respecting our opponents, realizing that these guys have played together, realizing that the game has gotten better all over the world and trying to make them understand how important it is for them to represent their country. Again, my hat goes off to them. Anybody watching that game that enjoys basketball would get a thrill out of that. From our perspective the only thing we can do is to find out what we're made of. This is a great opportunity for a group of guys to get together and figure out what it means to truly be a team. Im anxious to see if we'll be able to do that. They shot over 50 percent. They took care of the ball in crucial parts of the game. We cut it to nine and missed some easy shots, they had three straight three-point plays. They just handled the adversity better than we did. We wanted to do some things defensively, but I don't know if we had the kind of weapons to do that. Then when you're shooting so badly, it's very hard to pressure anybody. When you shoot 30 percent from the field and are turning the ball over, there are so many opportunities for them to get the ball down the court without pressuring. I've seen teams learn from big losses and come back. But that's a team and that's what we've got to become in a very short period of time. We have a great opportunity. I've learned a lot from this game and I'm hopeful I can relate that to our players and I'm looking forward to it. Q: Are you mad, frustrated or mystified? I'm not mystified. The first day I got with this group I knew what was in store. I'm also mindful of the fact that you can't just put a team together, have four days to practice and play six games, especially a young team, to truly play as a team. Especially with so many young players. I'm not surprised because I have so much respect for the people we play and the commitment these other teams make in terms of trying to win and truly being a team. I'm angry because the mentality of this team was like this from day one. We now have to coach them better. Now we're going to find out if we're ready to truly become a team. <Carmelo Anthony> Q: Are you concerned after this game? We just gotta come back and play basketball now. Q: Are you surprised the way they beat you—from the outside? They beat us pretty good from out there. I can't really say too much. All I know is that we lost the game and we have to come back ready to play Tuesday. <Carlos Boozer> Q: On tonight's game: We had a lot of turnovers. They really took advantage of us with offensive fast break points and easy points. We've got to get our act together. Q: Were you surprised by this game? Yes. I thought we would come out sharp and make our shots. You have to take your hats off for Puerto Rico. They played a perfect game. We've got to get to practice tomorrow, then get back at it on Tuesday. Q: On the team's outside shooting of 3-for-24: We've got to work on our shooting. We rushed a lot of shots and were just not in the flow of things. You've got to get things going. Q: Everyone in the States must be stunned by this. I'm sure they are. We're stunned ourselves. But, we put it on our own backs. Now, we have to pull ourselves together. We are going to band around our players, band together with our coaches and get this thing moving forward. The way this game is played, you have to come out sharp, you have to play defense and if you don't do those things, you can be beat by anybody on any night. That's how basketball is. That's why you play the game and you have to play the right way all the time. We've just got to bounce back from this. Q: Is it the international style? There's no excuse. We had six international exhibition games and we played (Puerto Rico) a couple times already. We have to take our hats off to Puerto Rico. They played a perfect game. They came out aggressive and we came out flat. They took advantage of the opportunities and we turned the ball over a lot. We'll try to get a good hard practice tomorrow and come back out on Tuesday. Q: On Carlos Arroyo, hisr new Utah Jazz teammate He played great. He got everybody involved. He got a lot of points and got some fast break points and then made the big shots at the end. He played a hell of a game. I've known him for about three years, so I'll be looking forward to playing with him in Utah. But, I wish we would've beaten them tonight <Tim Duncan> Q: Were you surprised by Puerto Rico? We were very surprised. They shot the ball very well, they played very well and the beat us very good. They came out, they played well, they played a good game. Q: What are you going to do in your next game? We'll play a lot better and put this behind us. We have to win the rest of our games. <Allen Iverson> Q: On tonight's game: We didn't play well. Over here, guys have been playing together so long and have been practicing together so long, that if you don't play well, and those guys execute, you are going to get beat. It's a bad loss. Any loss for us is a bad loss. Obviously, we are the favorites to win the whole thing and we haven't lost an Olympic game since we've had NBA players, so it's a tough loss for us. The only thing you can do is to learn from things that went wrong and try to make it better the next game. We didn't play well defensively. We didn't talk enough and we didn't help each other out and they were able to knock down some shots. We didn't play well in the all-around game and we get a lot of our offense off of our defense. When we couldn't stop them, it became hard for us to score. Q: On the 3-of-24 shooting from 3-point range: We kind of got carried away with it. We obviously shot too many in the first half, and then when we were down in the second half it made us shoot more, trying to get back in the game. Hopefully, we won't have to shoot as many. We understand that teams are going to play us with zones. So, we have to find a way to get easier baskets and stop shooting so many outside shots. On the common saying that the USA is never supposed to lose That shows, never say never. Obviously, it happened. Anything can happen. Q: What will you and the team do? We will try to work on everything we did wrong. We will work on those things. For the things we did right, we will continue to do it. I think step one is to understand that it's not over. You have to keep your heads up and keep fighting. It could be a happy ending if we keep fighting and use this as a learning experience. Q: The USA missed some relatively easy or maybe even some chip shots That was frustrating. We were getting beat up a lot, too and that was frustrating when we didn't go to the line when we thought we could. But, that's the way it goes. The referees have a really hard game. It was hard for those guys (Puerto Rico), just like it is for us. We felt they did the best job that they could do and tried to call the game fairly. We just got some tough breaks and that's the way it goes. Some nights, everything goes well for you, some nights everything is bad. Q: Do the international teams play a better style? I don't know about better because I think there are NBA teams that play that way. These guys play the game, the way the game is supposed to be played. They don't play off their athletic ability. They think the game out, sort of a John Stockton-Karl Malone type of game. They don't use their athletic ability, they execute their game together. I think this game is good for kids to see how the game is supposed to be played. <LeBron James> Q: On tonight's game: The top four teams in each bracket advance to the medal round. We're not going to hang our heads though because we know we can still win the gold medal. Q: Was it a case of their (Puerto Rico) outside shooting and USA not hitting? Yeah, it was. They made their shots. It wasn't like we didn't execute. We got every shot that we wanted, we just couldn't knock ‘em down. Q: Some Americans might say that this was embarrassing, losing to Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States. This is basketball. We're not talking about a city, a state or a country. We're talking about basketball, not who owns who. They were the better team tonight. It's as simple as that. Q: How do you feel about being the first U.S. team to lose in the Olympics since 1988? We just have to keep bouncing back and not hang our heads low. We've only had a couple of weeks to work together. I'm not making excuses; we had a loss tonight. We just have to bounce back. Q: Do you feel shocked by the loss? No, everybody is beatable. Anybody can lose. It's our job to go to practice tomorrow, work hard and come out there Tuesday. Q: Is the way they beat you surprising? A little bit. If you don't make shots and the other team is making shots, there is no way you are going to win. <Richard Jefferson:> Q: On if this will change the expectations within the USA team: Not at all. We still think we are the favorite team, even though we didn't have a good game today. We feel we can get better and be alright. This was a worst-case scenario. We couldn't hit a shot to save our lives and it was unfortunate the way we got started. We tried to make a small comeback at the end, but they are a very talented team. I think we are a resilient group. We've been through this and we had to get back. We came back the next night after losing to Italy and took Germany down the wire. We started playing a little better after that but we believe that even though we lost tonight, we still have a lot to go. Q: Do you have time to improve? We have time. We have plenty of time. And, we're going to get better. When you play here, it's under different circumstances and you get used to it. We have a very talented group that's going to get better. We're going to learn the situations that you have to and we're going to improve. Q: On the shooting of the team: We just couldn't hit anything. I shot two off the glass on the side of the backboard. Never in my life have I had a shooting night like this. But, you have to give them credit because they played great defense and they had a great game plan. Everyone that knows anything about the NBA is going to know that Allen Iverson can knock down shots. Stephon Marbury can knock down shots. Tonight, it was the worst-case scenario. <Stephon Marbury> Q: Talk about the game of Carlos Arroyo: He played great. He's got a great hand. We were shooting outside a lot, but the shots just weren't going down. We weren't shooting the ball well from the beginning and we got out of our game. Most of the shots we were getting, nine times out of ten we make those shots. Q:Do you think the team will be able to pull together and move on from this loss? I think for us, we have to maintain our composure. We have to continue to do better as a team. Tomorrow we're going to have practice, go over our zone offense. Because of how they zoned us, we didn't shoot the ball well. <Lamar Odom> Q: Can you put this in perspective? What happened out there? We lost. It happens. The best athletes lose. From Muhammad Ali to the New York Yankees to Mike Tyson to the LA Lakers. Michael Jordan lost big games. It happens. You just try to move on and hope that it doesn't happen again. You come out and play your best basketball. Q: What happened , did you catch Puerto Rico on a hot night or were you a little out of synch? They hit some shots. They hit a lot of outside shots. And we shot the ball horribly from outside. Whenever you shoot the ball like that and you give up easy baskets, you have the opportunity to lose the game. I don't care where or what it may be. In the spirit of competition we are the team that everyone wants to beat. It's still a blessing to be here and we still have a chance to win.. Puerto Rico played well. They made a lot of big baskets. Every time we cut it down to 10, they came down and hit 3s, one was off the glass in the last few minutes. Everyone loses. It feels great to win and it always hurts to lose, but no one here is playing to lose, you have to remember that. This is the Olympics and it is as competitive as it gets. Q: Now what? You just keep playing. We play 82 games during the year and then for those that go on to the playoffs, we play 7 game series. So we understand that losing one game doesn't mean that you can't win a series. Hopefully we can stay tough and win this series. Q: What does this loss mean? Is it a reason to be concerned? We have a reason to be concerned. Whenever you lose games that you feel you should win, you are concerned. But they felt they should win, too. That's what the spirit of competition is all about. Q: What happens next game? Is that going to determine the Olympics for you? I think so. There's no way we can lose two games. We definitely have to come out and play our best basketball. We have no choice. We are going to see what we are all made of. I think we are all fighters in there (the locker room). All we have to do is keep being consistent and keep taking he ball to the hole and keep playing tough. We can't rely on the offense. We have rely on our defense. Our defense is our best offense. We need to speed the game up. Q: Is this a reflection of American basketball? No, no. This is just letting everyone know that everyone plays basketball. Basketball is my generation's soccer. Basketball is played all over the world. Kids all over the world are hoping someday to play in the NBA. Give Puerto Rico credit. They played a wonderful game. They hit shots and we didn't. <Dwyane Wade> Q: On tonight's game: They came out and wanted it more than us. I don't know why, but they did. They executed great in the beginning, we didn't and we dug ourselves into a hole that we weren't able to get out of tonight. We didn't make shots, but we had some great looks. I think we just came out flat, it happens, we have to learn how to come out more aggressive for the next game. We lost today, but we have another game, we'll learn from this and we have to continue to compete. We can't worry about the practices we didn't have, or how long we've been together. Everything happens for a reason and so hopefully our reason is to learn from this and continue going forward. We weren't really playing together as a team the way we should. Tonight we didn't utilize our big fella Tim Duncan as much as we should so therefore the ball was out on the perimeter too much and once you keep passing the ball back and forth, back and forth, something's liable to happen. Tonight something bad happened. We've been careless with the ball a lot and tonight it came back to bite us