SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 USA 81 Turkey 64 Kevin Love: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 1 minute BOX SCORE | RECAP Postgame Quotes: Talk about winning the World Championship: I mean, it's unbelievable. We didn't know what to expect, kind of like Tyson said. But, I mean, we're all brothers now really. This is an unbelievable experience. We're just going out to accept our gold medals now. I mean, I can't even put into words how unbelievable this is. Nobody expected this from us. We went out and got the job done. We came together as a unit, as one, as a family, the coaches, staff and players. We'll forever be a part of USA Basketball and forever a part of history. What was the key to the win tonight? Defense. It's always been defense for us, the whole time. Obviously we've had the firepower on the offensive end. But being willing to step up on the defensive end is what won this tournament for us. | |||||
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 USA 89 Lithuania 74 Kevin Love: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 8 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP | |||||
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 USA 89 Russia 79 Kevin Love: 0 points, 1 rebound, 4 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP | |||||
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 USA 121 Angola 66 Kevin Love: 8 points, 6 rebounds, 15 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP  Love Postgame VideoPostgame Quotes: On the game and the team’s energy: I think the coaching staff did a really good job the past couple of days telling us to use our youth to our advantage. Have more enthusiasm and really pick it up on the offense and defensive end. When players are subbing in after the first unit does a great job, to run out there on the court and have that energy that we should have. I think our average age for the team is 23 years old so we should play like it and have that energy the whole time throughout the game. On the sharing of the ball tonight and the lack of turnovers: If we can do that, we feel like we will be tough to beat. If we clean up our lapses that we’ve had on the offensive end with the turnovers and assist to turnover radio and then we kind of convert that into the defensive end and have that energy that I mentioned, we’re going to be very tough to beat in the next three games. Is the best 40 minutes the team has played to this point? Yeah I think so. We know what’s at stake and we know from here on out, it’s one and done. | |||||
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 USA 88 Iran 51 Kevin Love: 13 points,11 rebounds, 11 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP Postgame Quotes: Did shaving the beard make you more aerodynamic out there? I think so … a little bit. There is a few people talking about that. I think shaving did well for me today and hopefully it’ll do well for me the rest of the tournament. This is the look I’m going for right now. What is your role on this team? I just try to come in and have energy. I think everybody has kind of bought into their role. For me, it’s to come in and be an energy guy. Guy that rebounds and gets easy baskets, shoot high percentage and plays good defense. A couple of things I can always do is play defense and rebound. That’s the kind of mindset I have coming into the game and it’s worked for me this far in my career and this far in this tournament. You have had many blowouts … how do you keep your focus? We know after tomorrow, you only get one shot at this thing. You can come out and be tested, just like in the Brazil game, and you could lose and be out of the tournament and we’re on our way home. We know it’s a chance for us to get better in these last two games, especially tomorrow in our 4:30 game so we’re just trying to get better every time. We have a little time to practice after than and then really from there, it’s the medal round and we’re going for gold. I know don’t if we thought it was more difficult than we expected because we knew there were going to be some great teams right at the top. Brazil is one of them. They have a bunch of great players … a lot of players that play in the top leagues over here and also playing in the NBA or have played in the NBA before. We know that we have to come out and respect every team. That’s kind of like over in the States, we have our NCAA tournament and you lose one game, you’re out. That’s kind of how it is here. A one seed can beat a 16 seed, just like here a four seed can beat a one seed so we know that we have to come out and play every game like it’s our last because it could be after tomorrow. | |||||
MONDAY, AUGUST 30 USA 70 Brazil 68 Kevin Love: 3 points,1 rebound, 5 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP  USA vs. Brazil HighlightsPostgame Quotes: Was the game the most intense you guys have played in? It definitely was. We knew that coming into this game, it was going to be a lot tougher than Croatia and Slovenia so we just wanted to really try to pick it up from the start. One thing we didn’t do was really come out in warmups and give our best effort right from the start. We kind of got warmed up during the game. One thing we need to do is just be ready at the very start of the game and really pick it up on the offensive end with the turnovers. We had a couple lapses in the first two games and I think you kind of saw that tonight throughout the whole game. If we clean that up, we’ll be … we’ll win by a substantial amount against most teams … but against a team like Brazil as talented as they are, we can’t have lapses like that. What changed from the first half to the second half? Coach K gave us a great talk at halftime, (he said) we need to pick it up and we only get one shot at this. We want to come out first in pool play and the only way we do that is if we beat Brazil because they probably won’t lose the rest of the way. He gave us a great speech at halftime, got us going and I think just warming up at halftime, we were ready to go from the start and I think we held them to 22 points in the second half. Thoughts on the last play? He got it on the left side after he shot it up and got it back … who knows if he left early, but they made a good play on the ball and we were just lucky that it was contested and Barbosa missed the shot. We had a little luck on our side. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good and tonight we had that little luck at the end. | |||||
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 USA 106 Croatia 78 Kevin Love: 7 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 13 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP  USA vs. Croatia Highlights
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 USA 99 Slovenia 77 Kevin Love: 10 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 13 minutes BOX SCORE | RECAP  Love Postgame Postgame Quotes: On the goals of the team: We aren’t the Olympic team and we feel we have a lot to prove. There have a been a lot of doubters, even from the US that have said that we might not be able to get this done so we definitely want to bring home the gold medal and that’s the plan. We’re not going to settle for anything else but we know that we have a long road ahead of us. Thoughts on the atmosphere of the game: It’s tough because we can’t really replicate that in practice. We know teams are going to come out, especially today. Slovenia had great national pride. Their whole crowd was rocking at some points in the game. At some points, we couldn’t hear our play calls. Sometimes, we couldn’t hear each other on defense but we just had to figure it out out there and have each other’s backs. It’s tough to prepare for that and we know that going forward, it’s going to be the same thing. On his one handed rebound and shot: I knew I could hold him off and get the rebound and try to put it back up. I actually just tried to put it over the rim and not use the glass but I just flipped it up and it came off my hand a little bit weird and I had luck on my side. Sometimes that’s what you need. Do you enjoy coming off the bench? I think for this team, it’s very good for us. Coach K has told all the guys to just embrace it. That’s kind of what I have done. I feel like I can be a spark off the bench … even if I’m the 6th or 12th man. It’s something I’ve embraced, try to come in there with energy. I know if all else fails, one thing I can always do is rebound. On his role coming off the bench: Keep coming off the bench and just being a spark for the team. I think each player that doesn’t start can do that. We have a bunch of players that play in the NBA that can play different roles and for me, it’s just getting putbacks on the offensive end and the occasional three and getting to the free throw line and getting offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds. That’s something I can always count on is just going after the offensive and defensive glass and trying to help the team in the rebounding aspect. |
August 27. 2010
Love, Team USA Compete in World Championship
Jonah BallowWolves Editor/Writer
Email / Twitter
Wolves forward Kevin Love continues to stack up the frequent flier miles while joining Team USA in a jaunt around the world. The training began in Sin City over a month ago with trips to New York, Madrid, and Athens before the final stop in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday. A trimmed 12-man USA roster is now complete and ready to capture the coveted gold medal at the World Championship.
This specific squad does not feature Kobe, Wade, LeBron, or even Dwight Howard. However, once again, head coach Mike Krzyzewski has found a way to mold a group of athletic and undersized players. The Summer Olympics in London are two years away but the current-assembled roster is out to prove its worth in international competition.
"If we can somehow win the gold medal at the World Championships, it's going to be very tough to do but we have a chance," USA basketball and Wolves director of player personnel Tony Ronzone explained. "We get an automatic bid to 2012 in London. If we do not win it and take second or third, then we have to come back next summer and re-group and qualify for the Olympics in the America Championships, which will be held in Argentina next year."
In the most recent exhibition contest against Greece, Love returned to action at the center spot after missing some time with a bruised calf in New York and a head injury he suffered in the win over Lithuania. As Wolves fans have come accustom to seeing, Love compiled rebounds at an alarming rate with 12 boards in just over 11 minutes of game action. Six of the rebounds were on the offensive glass and the big man also connected on 4-for-8 of his field goal attempts for 10 points.
"That’s what I love. It’s very physical over here … not saying the NBA isn’t, but I think I’m very well-suited for this type of play and I got a chance to show that tonight," Love said in a postgame interview.
Now the real action begins at the site of the five preliminary round games at Abdi Ipekci Arena. Love and Team USA open against Croatia on Saturday night with live television coverage on ESPN Classic at 11 AM central and re-aired on ESPN2 at 10 PM central.
On usabasketball.com, Krzyzewski discussed Love's role following the impressive showing against Greece, "Not so much his standing but the fact that we can use him at different times. It’s not going to be always Tyson (Chandler) coming in for Lamar (Odom), it depends on situations. But he had a very strong performance. I thought Danny (Granger) did a good job too… it’s tough to play everybody. I thought they showed great attitudes, we’re in good health, and it will be situational with those guys."
Moving forward, Love adds an important dimension to a team that only features one 7-footer. Obviously, his rebounding efficiency is a valued attribute but Love also creates offensive scoring opportunities with his passing ability. On the defensive end of the floor, expect Love to jump in front of streaking opponents inside the FIBA's trapezoid lane.
"He's the only guy on our team that takes charges, and can get in the post, and put a body on some of these international fours and fives that are big and strong. He's going to help us down the road, coming up," Ronzone said.
Team USA will face Slovenia on Sunday, Brazil on Monday, Iran on September 1, and Tunisia on September 2 in the final preliminary matchup. Stay tuned to NBA.com and usabasketball.com for comprehensive coverage.
For more news and notes on the team follow the Minnesota Timberwolves and Jonah on Twitter.
