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KoriEllis
08-29-2004, 03:24 AM
www.usabasketball.com/sen...uotes.html (http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2004/04_moly8_quotes.html)

LARRY BROWN, USA Head Coach

Opening comments:
This was probably the hardest game I have ever been involved with, in terms as a coach. Our coaches talked about that. We are proud of the way they played and how they improved. It was a bitter disappointment losing last night but you don't want take anything away from Argentina - they deserved to win.

We came back tonight after that loss, with the expectations that people have for us, and to play this game that way tonight is a good thing for American basketball. It showed a lot of class and a lot of character. They have nothing to be ashamed of - we beat a team that shot 21-37 from three (point range) and I think that is a very positive thing.

This team showed so much character coming under the circumstances, being asked to go late - I think we should be very positive about the commitment they made and the sacrifice they made. This is the greatest honor I have ever had as a coach. I do not know if I have ever been more proud of a group than I am tonight.

I can't understand why we can't have one set of rules all over the world. I wish we could get together and have one set of rules. The way the game is called here is like a foreign sport. Tim Duncan fouled out of two games in eight years but was in foul trouble every night here. Now basketball is a world sport and I don't see why we can't get together and do what is best for basketball.

We are never going to have a cakewalk. We still play the best basketball but we don't play with the international rules enough. It is a great thing to see players from Asia, South America and Europe playing in our league. That is a great thing.

I have noticed in this tournament that every country has outside shooting. I am amazed that we could win a game with a team hitting 21 threes. That team almost beat us in Sydney.

GREGG POPOVICH, USA Assistant Coach
We are really proud of the guys. They gave up their summers to be here and we are coming away with a medal. That team (Lithuania) ... I have never seen another team hit as many threes - usually when that happens, it takes so much out of their opponent that the opponent quits. We didn't allow that to happen."

On Tim Duncan's foul trouble tonight and throughout the Olympics
It is amazing ... I think Tim (Duncan) has fouled out of two games in his NBA career and he fouled out of at least that many here. He was very frustrated but other guys tried to step up. To his credit, he kept his cool.
I think there should be some sort of similarity in the officiating. Basketball is so huge now around the world and it makes sense to play it the same way instead of this mutually exclusive way.

We are thrilled to get the bronze. Anyone here wanted the gold but we will take the bronze. These guys busted their butts to be the best they can be. All we can do is be proud of them.

CARMELO ANTHONY
We are leaving with something so we don't need to hang our heads.
It is a different level (the Olympics) of competition. I learned that I cannot always be "the Man" on a team and I have learned to do whatever I can with the time I am given and support the team no matter what. I will definitely be back in '08, '12, whenever they want me back.

We have too much pride to come out and lay down tonight. We can never underestimate teams and tonight we played a team that got us in (pool play). We responded to the challenge.

I will wear my bronze medal proudly. At least we are leaving here with something to show for our effort. It means a lot to me to get that.

CARLOS BOOZER


We are hopeful that we will be back on the Olympic team in 2008. Obviously we wanted the gold but to get the bronze is at least satisfying. I know we played with a lot of heart and a lot of character against a team that beat us last week.

This experience will always be special and be one of the greatest memories for me. We worked very hard and at least we have something to show for it.

ALLEN IVERSON


How much does it mean for you to win the bronze medal?
It means a lot to me. It means a lot to me to be an Olympian. It's always a dream for NBA basketball, young guys, want to be an Olympian. I am happy for the honor to be able to come over here and represent my country. I'm not going back empty handed. It feels to be able to go home and accomplish something. That's honestly the most important thing to me. I really wanted to win a gold medal. I really wanted to bring home a gold medal. But to come here and play a game, and not have the chance to win a gold medal, to come out and show some heart, show some character to come out and play in the bronze medal game means a lot to me. It felt like we came here to accomplish something and we did. We didn't do what we wanted to do, but we did something.

Would you come back to play in 2008?
I definitely would. If I were asked and my body is in shape I would come back and play.


Talk about your Olympic experience:
Overall it was a good experience for me. It was a dream come true. It didn't go 100 percent like I planned, but I had my kids here to enjoy the whole thing. I had my wife here and they saw things they might never see in their life. They've been places that they might not ever have gone. I feel good about my sons having that experience. Just to know that it can happen to an Iverson. If you work hard and that's what you want out of life, then it can happen. You can prosper. The whole experience was tough as far as not doing what we expected to do as a team. But the overall experience was great. I was proud to represent my country.

RICHARD JEFFERSON

The uniform situation affected us the same way it affected Lithuania, which is to say not at all. When it came time to play, both teams got after it.

On Shawn Marion's play:
He was huge. He hit some big shots and he has the capability to knock them down from anywhere on the court. I believe the U.S. will have 95 percent of the talent in the world but the rest of the world has gotten better team-wise. These other countries play together much more often and we didn't have enough time to prepare compared to what they do. It is tough for 12 strangers to get together in two weeks and try to become the best team in the world. It is not feasible to do that. It is impossible the way things are currently set up for us to have a consistent national team. There are too many guys, our season is too long and there are too many things going on for us to do that.

The fact that Tim Duncan could not play doesn't make any sense. The officiating here is much different than we are used to in the NBA, that is for sure.

It was more mental (to get up for the bronze medal game). There was not one game where we did not play together. We struggled at times defensively but we always played hard. Tonight we were the ultimate professionals coming out with an extreme amount of passion to get it done.

That 3-point line here is so close. In the NBA, those aren't 3-pointers. The spacing is much different. Look at a guy like Allen Iverson, who plays one way for nine or 10 years and comes here and it is totally different. It is hard to adjust in two weeks.

The NBA is the ultimate basketball league in the world and I think it would help if there were similar rules. Obviously the rest of the world is playing one way and the NBA is different.

Playing for your national team is an honor and I hope to do it again.

We won the bronze medal here. I am proud of that. To say that 12 guys that came here to represent their country don't care is ridiculous. We lost games because we weren't familiar with each other as much as anything else.

Even though we didn't win the gold, we gave our all. I don't think we came here to get the bronze but given the circumstances, we can be proud."


STEPHON MARBURY


Explain if you can the emotional roller coaster you have been on the last couple of days?
It's been kind of wild! I think the guys really kept a hold of themselves. We showed a lot of character coming out here tonight playing as hard as we did. We could have easily just laid down. We are going home with something.

The fact that you guys started to play together as a team finally. Maybe adjusting a little bit more to the officials. You got the win today, do you wish the tournament was still going on and you can continue playing?
Yeah, you always wish that its going on. We wish that we could be playing right now but unfortunately it didn't happen that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way.

What did you learn from this whole experience?
I learned a lot! Playing under coach Brown, I learned a lot! The whole atmosphere as far as playing international basketball. How easy it is to play with three referees and how hard it is to play with two referees. You appreciate that playing in the U.S.

As the guy who was in charge of getting the team going, who had to distribute the ball and to sacrifice your individual scoring ability, how difficult was it to get in the flow when Tim Duncan, the go guy was always in foul trouble?"
It was tough. It was kinda like Tim was in foul trouble every game. That's kind of like impossible because he's the guy who never get's in foul trouble back in home, but it just shows the difference. But like I said it wasn't meant for us to be in this game tonight and I hope everyone can take something from it because I definitely have taken a lot from it.

You said that you hope everybody takes something away from this game. As you go up for that medal ceremony, you sit there, what is that your hope everybody takes back to the United States?
Just know the feeling that you are hearing their national anthem and basically knowing that that could have been us but it's not and and four more years we have to definitely prepare ourselves and put us in the situation where we can win the gold medal despite who's on the team or not.

Would you like to be on that team in 2008?
If they put me on the team, I definitely will go!


SHAWN MARION


We pulled together tonight and came out with all kinds of energy on the floor and the bench, we were all together tonight, we pulled together. .

The difference between this game and the first one (a 94-90 loss)
We came out and had a little more intensity at the defensive end but they still hit their threes tonight. We had an edge in stopping them because everyone was helping each other tonight and we just played together.

You came for gold and you're going home with bronze, is that a satisfying thing for you?
We wanted the gold but I will take anything right now .- I am proud to have this bronze. It hurts ... it was a challenge to get up for this but at least we did not go home empty-handed.

You seemed to be pretty open against the zone tonight, was that something that was designed, why were as open as you were?
If you notice we do have Tim Duncan on our team so he draws a lot of attention. So that opened up some area in the zone and we took advantage of it and when you get open shots you've got to knock them down.

LAMAR ODOM

Talk about this experience:
I'm a first generation Olympian as an Odom. We all know what we wanted to do and what we wanted to make happen but ...we didn't fail, we just lost a game. It would have been real easy for us to say ‘no gold medal, so what.' But that's what being an American is all about, having pride

It had to be tough to play for bronze today after losing last night?
Yeah, it was. But coach Pop (Gregg Popovich, USA assistant coach) really got us pumped up in the locker room, he said we have a lot to fight for and still a lot of be proud of and I think everyone kind of rallied behind his speech. We didn't want to loose our last game here.

Do you think you'd do this again?
I'm only 24, so hopefully I can. I'll be Allen's (Iverson) age, 29, at the next Olympics.

EMEKA OKAFOR

What was the collective feeling about the competition in this tournament? Were you surprised at how good everyone was?
Not at all, that's what we expected. We expected tough competition and that is what we got.

You guys showed a lot of character in bouncing back and taking this game for the bronze.
I think we showed that we cared and wanted something out of this. If we didn, we would have gone out there and did whatever. But we went out there and played hard and got the bronze. It's a medal, it just not the one we wanted.

We were disappointed after not winning the gold medal, but we came out and played hard against a good team in a tough game and won. It shows a lot.

AMARE STOUDEMIRE

You lost the chance for the gold, but came back for the bronze. Your reaction?
It was good. We came out and played hard. We gave 100% out there and settled for the bronze medal. That was our goal as of last night and that's what we got.

It seems like you guys just needed a little more time and this team would have come together completely.
You could say that. I think it would have helped. But we did have five weeks, including the Olympics and that is a good enough amount of time to accomplish much that we wanted to.

ducks
08-29-2004, 07:31 PM
CARMELO ANTHONY
We are leaving with something so we don't need to hang our heads.
It is a different level (the Olympics) of competition. I learned that I cannot always be "the Man" on a team and I have learned to do whatever I can with the time I am given and support the team no matter what. I will definitely be back in '08, '12, whenever they want me back