By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
MANILA, Philippines – One week ago, the USA beat with ease Greece in the Abhu Dabi preparation game.
But coach Steve Kerr expects that things are going to change in the official competition.
As he explained talking to the media before the second game of the group phase of the FIBA World Cup: “We expect Greece to be better than they were one week ago. I know they suffered an injury (ed. note: Dinos Mitoglou missing the FIBA World Cup). They played a lot better against us after the first quarter and I think they will come in with more confidence than they had last time and we have to be ready for them. They gave us some trouble in the second half, but they made a couple of good runs. They are very physical, and they are well-coached, so we are ready for a tough game”.
Greece and the US have some notable shared World Cup history. Greece ended up being the only team to beat the USA under coach Krzyzewski, back in the FIBA World Cup semifinal of 2006.
Kerr knows the lore and he welcomes the challenge of being the coach of Team USA.
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As he explained: “Part of being the coach in Team USA is a huge responsibility because you are always one of the favorites, if not THE favorite. So there’s plenty of pressure, but this is part of the challenge, I like to do this because of the competition. Competition is what gets our blood going, it’s a challenge, and it’s incredibly energizing. And the thing you have to understand when you take on this job either as a coach or a player, is you are going to be in the fire. I love the fire so we will see if we can do it”.
PHOTO CREDIT: 2023 FIBA World Cup