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Fans lined the streets of Shanghai to greet the US and Russian basketball teams prior to their warm-up match yesterday - indeed, so dense were the crowds that they blocked the route of the Russian team bus. Once inside the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, the audience looked far greater than the designated 15,000 capacity, and the huge crowds even made it into the post-match press conference, where the USA's coach Mike Krzyzewski and star man Kobe Bryant spoke to the gathered journalists.
The match itself had been hugely anticipated, mostly due to the arrival of the NBA's best players, specifically because of Kobe-mania. The Lakers man is one of the most recognisable sportsmen on the planet, China being no exception.
In the end the Dream Team defeated Russia 89-68, though as Krzyzewski admitted, this was a tougher match than the scoreline suggested. "This was an excellent game for us, as Russia are a first-class opponent," the American coach told the press. "They have a couple of stars in their team in Holden and Kirilenko. They were brilliant in defence. There were no easy points for us, and we had to use fast breaks more often than usual. The Russians are very disciplined."
In fact, despite the scoreline in favour of the USA, Russia won the battle for rebounds, snatching 33 (of which 12 were offensive) to the Americans' 29 (4 offensive). "I think we probably just weren't concentrating enough on this part of the game," commented Krzyzewski.
The coach also singled out one Russian player for special attention. "I consider Kirilenko to be the strongest player among all the opposing teams we have met in these warm-ups. When he receives the ball, anything can happen, attacks continue out of the blue." Kirilenko's 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists seem to support the coach's opinion.
It was Kobe Bryant, though who was the game's star man, top-scoring with 19 points. "We've got plenty of classy attackers," he told the press when questioned over his points-scoring role in the team. "It's not like one person shoots all the time, others defend. It's just today the situation turned out that I had greater opportunities to shoot, and so I was attacking."
Asked if, like many of his fellow NBA stars, he would consider moving to Europe to play, Bryant answered very straight-forwardly. "Of course. By the way, are you the owner of a Russian team? It can be arranged for $40 million per year."
"I would love Kobe to come to Duke University to play for me," added Krzyzewski. "I can't offer him that kind of salary, but he would receive a university diploma instead."
It seems Bryant is at the top of everyone's wanted list.
Vladimir Mozhaytsev
English by James Appell
