Kevin Love gyrates to get a shot off as he led the US team in scoring with 13 pts, also pulling down 6 rbds as he came off the bench. Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty ImagesUSA Too Much For Iran, Earns 88-51 Win In World Championship Play
USA Basketball website
Sept. 1, 2010 • Istanbul, Turkey
Stats • Photos
Coach K post-Iran
Coach K press conference
Tyson Chandler post-Iran
Rudy Gay post-Iran
Powered by a balanced scoring attack that saw all 12 USA players register points, including a team best 13 points from Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves), the Americans took control early and sailed on to post an 88-51 victory over Iran (1-3) Tuesday night at Abdi Ipekci Arena in Isanbul, Turkey. The win improved the U.S. record to 4-0 in preliminary play and guaranteed the squad Group B's number one seed for the eighth-finals.
"That's what we wanted to do," said Lamar Odom on the U.S. earning the number one seed for Group B. "We came out, focused on our goal, attained it and now it's time to move on."
The U.S. concludes preliminary play Thursday versus Tunisia. The medal round eight-finals, which features the top four teams from each of the four preliminary round groups advancing, will be played Sept. 4-7. Quarterfinals action is slated for Sept. 8-9, with semifinals scheduled for Sept. 11 and the gold and bronze medal games will be contested
Sept. 12.
"We were a little bit fresher today. In our last game, when we played Brazil, that was our sixth game in 10 days in three countries. I just thought we were tired, more mentally than physically. No U.S. team has ever played six games in 10 days in three countries," said USA mentor and Duke University's Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski. "I thought as the game moved along, we got better in the game and we're hoping we can do that again.
"It's just a long race and people want to judge you by every game instead of looking at your body of work. Our kids have done a good job, and they did a good job again in a hard-fought game today."
U.S. forward Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) opened the scoring with a traditional three-point play, but Iran connected on a jumper and a 3-pointer to grab a 5-2 lead. The lead was short lived as Durant and Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers) hit threes on consecutive possessions and the USA had the lead for good, 9-5.
With the USA holding a 12-10 advantage with 3:27 left in the first quarter, the Americans expanded their lead to 19-10 after scoring seven consecutive points as Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies) and Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks) all put points up on the scoreboard in the run.
Leading 19-13 after one quarter, and 24-16 with 6:53 remaining before halftime, Love reeled off nine straight points for the USA and with 5:01 left in the second stanza the U.S. lead was up to 33-19.
At the end of the opening half, the U.S. advantage stood at 42-28, as Iran had managed to hit just 7-of-23 shots from the floor and was only 3-of-11 from 3-point, while the U.S. was hitting 53.1 percent from the field.
Stepping up its energy and defensive pressure to open the third quarter, Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets) opened the quarter's scoring with a steal and layup, which was followed by a Rose drive for two; a Durant slam off a Rose steal and assist, and another Rose drive that left the score 50-28.
From that point to the final horn the USA was in control and its lead never fell below 19 points.
For the game, the U.S. shot 57.8 percent from the floor, 41.2 percent from 3-point. Iran was limited to 28.8 percent shooting overall, 14.3 percent from 3-point. The Americans won the battle of the boards 39-31, and were led by Love's seven and Chandler's six rebounds. The U.S. defense forced Iran into 25 turnovers.
"I just try to come in and have energy," remarked Love, who after four games is averaging 8.3 ppg. and a team high 7.0 rpg. "I think everybody has kind of bought into their role. For me, it's to come in and be an energy guy. Guy that rebounds and gets easy baskets, shoot high percentage and plays good defense. A couple of things I can always do is play defense and rebound. That's the kind of mindset I have coming into the game and it's worked for me this far in my career and this far in this tournament."
Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi led Iran with 19 points and Rice University sophomore Arsalan Kazemi added 14 points.
"I think you always have to be ready to play. We have a deep team so any guy can come off the bench and give us a spark … or a starter can play big minutes for us. On our team, we just always have to be ready and whenever our number is called, we have to get out there and do what is expected of us," said Chandler.
In Group B's other prelim games Wednesday, Croatia (2-2) owned Tunisia (0-4) 84-64, while Slovenia (3-1) handed Brazil (2-2) its second consecutive loss 80-77. In Group A action, Argentina (4-0) remained perfect with an 88-79 decision over Jordan (0-4), Serbia (3-1) beat Australia (2-2) 94-79, and Angola (2-2) defeated Germany (1-3) 92-88 in overtime. In Group C, Russia (3-1) fended off China (1-3) 89-80, Greece (3-1) upended Ivory Coast (0-4) 97-60, while host Turkey (4-0) kept its record clean with a narrow 79-77 victory over Puerto Rico (1-3). Group D play saw New Zealand (2-2) knock off Canada (0-4) 71-61, Spain (2-2) won over Lebanon (1-3), and Lithuania (4-0) earned a 69-55 win over France (3-1).
The 2010 USA World Championship Team assistant coaches are Syracuse University's Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan and Toronto Raptors head mentor Jay Triano.
The 2010 FIBA (International Basketball Federation) World Championship for Men is being held Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Kayseri, Turkey. Twenty-four teams are competing in the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men.
Additional Quotes >>USA 88, Iran 51
Sept. 1, 2010 • Istanbul, Turkey
Krzyzewski
USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University)
About the game:
It was an honor to play against (Iran). I thought the Iran team played extremely hard and had a really good game plan. I thought they played well. For us we were a little bit fresher today. In our last game, when we played Brazil, that was our sixth game in 10 days in three countries. I just thought we were tired, more mentally than physically. No U.S. team has ever played six games in 10 days in three countries. So the day off yesterday … and I thought as the game moved along, we got better in the game and we’re hoping we can do that again. It’s just a long race and people want to judge you by every game instead of looking at your body of work. Our kids have done a good job, and they did a good job again in a hard-fought game today.
Coach K following the USA's victory over Iran
Did you ever worry that all the questions about this game would create any tensions between the teams?
We didn’t have any fear of that because we just respected their basketball team. We just play a basketball game. I said two nights ago that I’ve been to Iran; I played there in the early 70s in Tehran. I have good friends who are of Iranian descent in the United States so I have a good feeling for the Iranian people. There is no political aspect in my mind in the ball game.
Do you think it’s an advantage to get a big lead and have a chance to rest your star players in the late part of the preliminary round?
Well, it’s important to get … we’d like getting off to a big lead if we could. I think any coach would like to get off to big leads. For us, these guys are going through this for the first time. So that stretch that we put them through, it’s not so much that they are physically tired, you get mentally tired and then when you have six games in 10 days and a couple of those days are travel days, you don’t practice. So a team that has not been together long and has that stretch and then doesn’t practice, there is going to be slippage. We’re trying to use these two games to get back and the practices before we start the medal round. I thought this was a good first step today. We knew we would have a tough game, that they would fight us every possession. Jay Triano, one of our assistants who coaches the Raptors, the last thing he told our team before going out on the court, he said the team we are going to play, plays as hard as team we have played against. To expect that type of effort against us. That’s what we got from the Iranian team.
Can you talk about Kevin Love’s play?
He’s had a tremendous impact on our team. He gives us a different center than Lamar or Tyson in that he can shoot the 3. He’s probably as good a rebounder as we have even though he’s probably undersized for the position. When he’s in the ball game, he spreads it out and we have a little more room to maneuver inside and then his rebounding has given us second and third shots. He’s done a really good job. He’s very dependable for us.
Do you feel the program coming in was a mistake perhaps with so many games in a brief period of time leading up to the tournament?
No I don’t. We set it up that way because the last few games of the tournament – if we’re fortunate enough to keep advancing – we’ll play three games in four days. To play six in 10 in the way we’re doing it, we needed to learn from it. Do you get mentally tired? Do you have slippage in the last game which would be the championship game again if you’re fortunate enough to go through it. So that was the plan. You didn’t know … I think our pool is really good. There are really good teams so everybody played us hard and it’s just a little bit of a grind. We wanted to put them through a grind to see if we could get a little bit tougher before the medal round.
Are you disappointed that you only scored 88 points tonight?
No, I’m not disappointed in today’s game. Points are not that important. It’s how hard you are playing and how well. I thought we improved as the game went along. I thought our second half was better than our first half, and that’s what we’re trying to get to. We’re improving going into the medal round but I’m not disappointed.
Coach K press conference.
Do you think turnovers are an issue for your team or do you think it’s ok?
I don’t think a coach ever says it’s ok to turn the ball over. We actually had 22 against Brazil and only eight assists. I thought we were a little bit sloppy with the ball in the first half but again they’re playing hard against you. So, they are forcing some of those turnovers. In the second half, I thought our passes were much more crisp and we were stronger with the ball. I think we had 10 or 11 in the first half and then 5 or 6 in the second half so it was much better. If we can cut down on turnovers, that’s a big part of the ball game.
What’s your level of satisfaction with ball movement and your offensive execution?
In the second half, much better. Again, I thought against Brazil … part of that is you get a little bit mentally tired and then you start standing … and you don’t practice. So the habits we’re trying to build, sometimes you revert back to less-productive habits. We want to use these two games as a chance for us to get sharper. We were much sharper in the second half than in the first half. Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll be even sharper. Then, we get a chance to practice before the medal round.
How do you feel about the tournament so far?
I think the tournament has a lot of possible winners. Much of it will have to do with your draw. Where you’re seeded and who you go up against. We respect everybody we are going to play, and we’ll train hard for everybody we’re going to play. If we get beat, it won’t be because we took somebody lightly. Believe me. All these guys want to do well and I want to do well. We’re putting in a lot of effort and so are the other teams. We have a chance but there are other teams that have a chance too and we know that.
Billups
Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets)
On clinching the top spot in the pool:
We came here to first and foremost win the pool and get the number one seed out of pool play. We did that. Tonight we didn’t play that great, to be honest with you. We didn’t play with the fire we probably should have early. It’s a tough game to play a little bit, playing against a foe who is really not on your level. We got to be better than we were tonight as far as just putting teams away. Come out and work on what you got to work on and get it over with. We hopefully have another chance to do that tomorrow.
What is the approach for tomorrow?
I think you look at tape and you look at the things you didn’t do early in the game today and say ok we have another chance to do it tomorrow.
What are the areas of improvement right now?
I just think some things we could be better at are half court offense … just running sets … running them through where everybody is touching the ball … we’re not as predictable … we’re making the defense move from side to side. We’re making them make some mistakes and make them pay as opposed to using our athletic ability and trying to beat people one on one the whole time. Obviously you can do that against bad teams but we’re going to play against some good teams that are going to play zone or going to play a pretty good man to man and pressure us as well. We got to better.
Are you figuring how to play with each other?
Yes. Everybody is getting more familiar with each other and that’s been the key in this whole time is how fast can we get to where we need to get to. I think the process is speeding up every time and every game.
Chandler
Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks)
On the game:
I think it was a very good game. I think we both came out and played hard and represented our countries well. Iran fought very hard. It was a very good game. I think we showed a lot of respect for each other and I was happy with the outcome.
Tyson Chandler at the press conference following the USA - Iran game.
On the political side of this game:
I think we should leave the politics to the politicians. We are here to play basketball and like I said, we both represented our countries very well and very respectful. We didn’t have any problems out there and we both played hard for our countries.
On Hamed Ehadadi:
I think he’s a great player. He’s a really big body … he has a nice post game. Really, overall, he’s a great player. He floats around the perimeter … he shoots a lot of shots. He does a lot for the team. He definitely keeps you on your toes at all times because he has nice touch as well as a big body and he can finish inside.
On playing different amounts of minutes each night:
On any given night, you never know how the flow of the game is going to go. I think you always have to be ready to play. We have a deep team so any guy can come off the bench and give us a spark … or a starter can play big minutes for us. On our team, we just always have to be ready and whenever our number is called, we have to get out there and do what is expected of us.
Durant
Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder)
On clinching the pool:
It feels good. We got to get ready for tomorrow and try to close it out … make a statement and get ready for tournament play. We’re excited. We know every game, every day is a step forward to where we want to get. We have to come in every day and try to get better.
What did you take out of today’s game?
We need to cut down on the turnovers. Our energy could be a little bit better. But I think we did a good job of pressuring, making those guys shoot bad shots and helping out each other on the defensive end.
Do you feel you guys are getting more comfortable playing with each other?
Yeah. We knew it was going to take a couple weeks and I think we’ve passed that feeling out period of learning how each other plays and guys know where to get some guys the ball in the right position to score and make plays. We have a great point guard in D-Rose and a great veterans in Lamar and Chauncey. We’re trying to follow their lead.
What is the focus going into Tunisia?
Just to get better. This team plays very hard, one of the hardest teams I’ve seen play all tournament. There going to come at us. It should be a good test for us.
Gay
Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies)
Do think there is something to certain guys being FIBA players and some guys not being FIBA players?
People are more successful in these kind of games because they have the kind of game that is best played within these rules. This is a physical game, a very physical game. I think me playing here will help me playing in the regular season.
Rudy Gay following the USA's victory over Iran
What qualities make a very good FIBA player?
Physicality. Athleticism. Guys that play different positions.
Are you guys aware of what is going on in the other groups in the tournament?
We were just watching Angola beat Germany. I think that’s one of the team we may be playing. That’s the biggest thing. I don’t think it was an upset because nothing is an upset out here. Its just things that can happen and anything can happen. We understand that and that’s why we don’t want it to happen with us.
What about the turnovers for the team?
Because we haven’t had a lot of practice and we’ve been playing back to back to back, it’s kind of like we’re learning as we go. Those mistakes that we had in the first half, we had to hurry up and fix before the second half or the game would get out of hand. We have that kind of team that can respond like that. I think that’s the kind of team they picked.
Is it a focus issue?
It is mental focus but for the most part, I think its learning how to play with each other. We are all people that have played on different teams … we got 82 games and more with the playoffs. Us coming out here and playing with each other; it’s not an all star game and we’re not treating it like an all star game. We really want to learn the plays and make each other better.
Igoudala
Andre Igoudala (Philadelphia 76ers)
How do you get better playing against team that are overmatched like Iran and Tunisia?
I think you have to realize that it’s important for us to execute. We have certain schemes we might want to try and see what we get out of it in certain game situations. We got to get everybody focused and put a high effort defensively for 40 minutes
Has turnovers been the biggest concern for the team?
We just have to be sharp and not have careless turnovers. There is a difference between aggressive turnovers and some traveling calls and the careless ones where we are just kind of like ‘too cool’ sometimes. We had that a few times but we really got to key in on executing offensively and getting what we need to get done even though the games get out of control in the first couple minutes.
Did you feel the team played better in the second half?
I think in the second half we were communicating a little bit better on the defensive end. If I had one concern with our team, it’s communication defensively. We got some quiet guys who in their nature it’s to be quiet, but defensively you got to talk. Everybody has to be like five guys on one string, rotations, pick and rolls … a lot of teams have tried to hurt us with that.
Love
Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Did shaving the beard make you more aerodynamic out there?
I think so … a little bit. There is a few people talking about that. I think shaving did well for me today and hopefully it’ll do well for me the rest of the tournament. This is the look I’m going for right now.
What is your role on this team?
I just try to come in and have energy. I think everybody has kind of bought into their role. For me, it’s to come in and be an energy guy. Guy that rebounds and gets easy baskets, shoot high percentage and plays good defense. A couple of things I can always do is play defense and rebound. That’s the kind of mindset I have coming into the game and it’s worked for me this far in my career and this far in this tournament.
You have had many blowouts … how do you keep your focus?
We know after tomorrow, you only get one shot at this thing. You can come out and be tested, just like in the Brazil game, and you could lose and be out of the tournament and we’re on our way home. We know it’s a chance for us to get better in these last two games, especially tomorrow in our 4:30 game so we’re just trying to get better every time. We have a little time to practice after than and then really from there, it’s the medal round and we’re going for gold.
I know don’t if we thought it was more difficult than we expected because we knew there were going to be some great teams right at the top. Brazil is one of them. They have a bunch of great players … a lot of players that play in the top leagues over here and also playing in the NBA or have played in the NBA before. We know that we have to come out and respect every team. That’s kind of like over in the States, we have our NCAA tournament and you lose one game, you’re out. That’s kind of how it is here. A one seed can beat a 16 seed, just like here a four seed can beat a one seed so we know that we have to come out and play every game like it’s our last because it could be after tomorrow.
Odom
Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers)
Was there any thought the political side of the USA vs. Iran?
That’s one of the beautiful things about sports. If you think about the history of sports, you take people from different cultures, from different beliefs and bring them together. Sports is the one thing that can kind of bring people together and have a great atmosphere. It was great playing a game like this.
What about clinching the pool tonight?
That’s what we wanted to do. We came out, focused on our goal, attained it and now it’s time to move on.
Peace. Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images
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