Learn mandarin - Anthony: "We knew we couldn't lose two games in this tournament"

Sports/Olympics / Basketball

Anthony: "We knew we couldn't lose two games in this tournament"
(fiba.com)
Updated: 2006-09-04 11:31

SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Carmelo Anthony has come out with a
positive outlook on his second experience with the American national team
after they took home a bronze medal by defeating Olympic champions
Argentina 96-81 on Saturday.

Even though Team USA fell short of their goal of winning the FIBA World
Championship - and now have to play next summer to qualify for the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing - the small forward has cherished his time with
his 11 team-mates and looks forward to playing with them again.

Individually, Anthony had a great tournament, finishing with averages of
19.9 points - sixth in the tournament - 3.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per
game while shooting close to 55 per cent from the field as Team USA
finished with an 8-1 record.

FIBA correspondent Simon Wilkinson caught up with Anthony after the
bronze medal game.

FIBA: Can you run us through what you were thinking over the last few
days after the loss to Greece and going into the bronze medal game
against Argentina?

Anthony: Friday's loss gave us a lot of motivation to go out and do our
best to win against Argentina. We knew we couldn't lose two games in the
tournament. This was a must-win game and we did what we had to do.

FIBA: Was it hard to find some motivation to play the bronze medal game
after the disappointment of the loss to Greece?

Anthony: No not at all. I think a lot of fans wanted to see Team USA play
against Argentina. Unfortunately it wasn't in the final. But we'll take
the win all the same.

FIBA: How would you describe the team��s mood in the bronze medal game?

Anthony: It was a gut-check game. A lot of people thought we would fold
after losing to Greece on Friday but we didn't. I take my hat off to all
my team-mates for coming out here and competing, especially LeBron James.

FIBA: What is the biggest lesson you learned in this tournament?

Anthony: That you can't take a night off - even though we didn't. You
know Greece came out and played really hard from start to finish and it
kind of shocked us. We didn't think they were going to play that hard and
they won the game.

FIBA: You now have to play next summer. Is that something that you were
trying to avoid?

Anthony: I guess so. Coming into this tournament we wanted to win so that
we wouldn't have to play in a competition next summer because we��d
automatically qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.
Unfortunately it didn't work out that way so we have to get ready for
next summer.

FIBA: What do you say to those who question the team's chemistry?

Anthony: There's always something that people want to question, but
please don't question our chemistry. We did a great job of putting this
team together. We came a very long way from the first day in Las Vegas to
now. I think we got better in that time and we will keep getting better
still.

FIBA: Did you all get along off the court and do you look forward to
playing together again?

Anthony: We really did and I think for me that's the main difference with
the experience of 2004. It's great to know that I'll get to hang with
LeBron again, and Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul next year.
Hopefully we can keep this group of guys together and move forward.

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