US will learn from hard-fought victory

BARCELONA, Spain - Reuters

US forward Carmelo Anthony (L) fights for a ball against Federico Kammerichs of Argentina during the two teams’ exhibition game ahead of the London Olympics. REUTERS photo

It was the narrowest winning margin yet for the U.S. basketball team in the run-up to defending its Olympic title, but coach Mike Krzyzewski said the 86-80 victory over Argentina provided a valuable lesson for his squad. 

“We learned a lot,” he said, pointing to the way the traveling rule is called by international referees, the proud way Argentina battled back and the atmosphere of playing in Barcelona, where the Dream Team roared to gold in 1992.

“It is a traveling violation in international ball, we’re not complaining about it,” he said about the quick shuffle of the feet that was called a few times against LeBron James.

“We don’t usually get those called in the United States. And so we have to adjust to that. It means four exchanges where you have a positive flow taken away from us. Those things add up. We’re continuing to learn as a team. A game like this helps us tremendously.”

Twice the Americans exploded to 20-point leads only to see Argentina, bronze medalists in Beijing and Olympic champions in 2004, fight back with rugged inside play from forward Luis Scola and deft outside shooting by Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino.

“It was a great game for us because we played against champions,” he said. “I thought it was really our first international game. You had the crowd, the officials. It was really good for us to get the flavour of things.”

Kevin Durant had an impressive night as the game’s high scorer with 27 points. Still, the lessons must be absorbed by the U.S. players, the coach stressed. 

“We have to get accustomed to plays that don’t occur in our basketball, like those travels and the six-point possession where Chris (Paul) was charged with two fouls and they got six points.”

On that second-quarter sequence, Argentine guard Facundo Campazzo was fouled hard as he drove to the hoop by Paul, who was hit with a flagrant foul. He made three free throws and that was followed by a three-pointer after Argentina inbounded the ball.