slamonline.com
The Spanish national hoops team has attempted to sell
the world on the idea that they’re not taking tonight’s supposedly
friendly Olympic tuneup against the American side too seriously. Kobe
Bryant, however, isn’t buying any of it. From the AP:
“A game against the U.S. – the team that beat them for the Olympic
basketball gold medal four years earlier – this time in front of their
own crowd? The Spanish players are supposed to be OK with losing,
because it’s only an exhibition? ‘There’s not a chance,’ Bryant said
Monday. ‘It’s not just practice. It’s impossible.’ Bryant might have
come away with a different opinion if he’d listened to Spain’s players
talk on the same Palau Sant Jordi floor about an hour earlier. They are
excited about the game Tuesday night and will try to win, but not at the
expense of their preparations for London. ‘It’s an exhibition game. I
think both teams are going to try to (use) different lineups, going to
try maybe different stuff, but at the end of the day you know you’re not
going to show a lot of things to the other team,’ Spain guard Jose
Calderon of the Toronto Raptors said. ‘You’re not going to have a medal
if you win or if you lost tomorrow.’ […] ‘It’ll definitely be a great
test,’ Spain star Pau Gasol said. ‘We believe in our chances, but it’s
just a friendly game. Obviously we’d rather lose tomorrow and win in
London.’ […] Bryant said Gasol is like a little brother, and that big
brothers don’t let little brothers win. ‘He doesn’t like to lose against
anyone, but I’d like to maybe let him win tomorrow and maybe beat him
in London,’ Gasol said. ‘That’ll be ideal.’ Bryant countered that
there’s ‘no way Pau is thinking this is just another game.’ And if it’s
another tight one like the Beijing battle as they head into the final
minutes Tuesday? ‘There’s no way Pau’s sitting down,’ Bryant said.”
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/07/kobe-bryant-knows-spain-desperately-wants-to-win-exhibition-vs-team-usa/
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