Maybe Spain can convince its home fans that the game doesn't matter.
No way Kobe Bryant is buying it.
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."
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