By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Coach Mike Krzyzewski met with the media one day before the final of the basketball tournament in Rio and while USA remains the big favorite for the gold, he didn’t hesitate to praise Serbia.
As he said: “Serbia came within a whisker of beating us in our pool play so we absolutely respect them. We know how good they are. They’re so well coached, Sasha (Djordjevic) does an amazing job with them. They have great comradery; they’re an outstanding passing team; an outstanding defensive team as was shown in the Australia game; and they’re led by one of the all-time great players internationally in Teodosic. So they’ll be very, very difficult for us”.
Speaking about the keys of the game, coach K spoke more about his team and its concentration: “Well for us, just maintaining our poise. We’ve had at times a problem with how the game is administered and so we need to keep our focus on the play and not anything else. And how we defend them. They scored 91 points against us. So I think it starts with that. Hopefully we can play our best game. We’re looking for a gold medal performance. We’ve had effort and we’ve had really good performances, but we would hope this one will be our best game”.
The fact that the two teams have already met in the group phase of the tournament doesn’t change much: “Well you’re familiar at least a little bit with them. I think it’s an advantage for both teams, in preparation for both teams. I think in a limited amount of preparation time the fact that we have faced one another helps both teams. And then what adjustments you make from that (first) game. We need to make a few adjustments because they almost beat us”.
According to Kryzewski, this tournament included better level of basketball compared to 2008 and 2012: “I think there are more really outstanding teams in this Olympics than in ’08 and 2012 and that’s why you’ve seen the quality of the games. I think it says a lot for the continuity these other federations have had. These guys have played together. Also, more and more guys are in the NBA, or have been in the NBA, so as far as competition with us, there is a familiarity of playing against NBA players because they are or have been (NBA players), so I think that’s made it much more competitive also”.