US expect hard battle for gold, says coach

The growth in international talent means the US men's basketball team face a "tough challenge" to win Olympic gold, head coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Monday.

"Basketball around the world has exploded. Thirty percent of the NBA are international players, and many of the teams we face ... will have a starting five of five NBA players," Krzyzewski said in Macau, where the gold medal favorites will play exhibition games against Lithuania and Turkey before travelling to Beijing.

"It will be a tough challenge for us."

The US have won 12 Olympic men's titles but their supremacy has slipped in recent years.

Team US finished with bronze four years ago and were third at the 2006 worlds.

Previous US teams have been all-star squads tossed together just weeks before the Games and Jerry Colangelo, managing director of the US team, said "that was good enough, but that's not the case anymore."

The players "wanted to see this thing turned around because there is pride in representing our country and the commitment that was made three years ago means that the core players have been together for the past three years, and that's a big difference," he said.

NBA top scorer LeBron James, who was wearing a US basketball shirt printed with the words "Together we rise", said confidence would be the key.

"Every time we step onto the court we know we have the talent and we know we have the strength to go out and be the best team out on the court. So, we have to be confident to go out there and play the way we want to play," he said.

Krzyzewski later clarified that "we're trying to be very confident. That doesn't mean over-confident.

"We don't have anything to be complacent about."

James will play in Beijing despite an earlier right ankle injury that he described as "healthy".

Basketball is extremely popular in China and will be one of the hottest tickets at the Beijing Games.

美国“梦之队”主教练迈克•克尔泽维斯基于本周一称，由于各国篮球人才的迅速成长，美国男篮奥运夺金将面临“严峻挑战”。

克尔泽维斯基日前在澳门称：“目前世界各地的篮球运动发展迅猛。NBA现役球员中有30%是国际球员，而我们要面对的很多球队的全部五名首发球员竟然都来自NBA”。“梦八”在抵京前将与立陶宛和土耳其打两场热身赛。

克尔泽维斯基说：“我们将面临严峻挑战。”

美国男篮曾夺得12届奥运会冠军，但最近几年战绩下滑。

“梦之队”在四年前的雅典奥运会上获得铜牌，在2006年的世锦赛上夺得第三名。

以前的“梦之队”是赛前几个星期东拼西凑的全明星阵容。美国男篮主管杰里•科兰杰洛说：“在那个时候还算不错，但现在不一样了。”

他说：“队员们也希望这种状况能有所改变，因为能代表整个国家出征奥运是一种荣耀。我们三年前就制定了奥运计划，这意味着核心队员已经在一起为这届奥运会准备了三年。这与以往大不一样。”

NBA得分王勒布朗・詹姆斯身穿一件印有“一起战斗，我们能赢”的美国队战袍。他说，自信是取胜的关键。

“每次我们步入球场，我们知道自己有这个能力，能打得很漂亮，能成为球场上最耀眼的球队。所以我们必须满怀信心地打比赛，打出我们的风格。”

克尔泽维斯基之后补充说道：“十分自信并不意味着自负。”

“我们没有什么可得意的。”

尽管詹姆斯此前右脚踝受伤，但他表示“伤势已好”，并将出征北京奥运会。

篮球运动在中国十分盛行，而篮球比赛的门票也成为北京奥运会中最紧俏的门票之一。

Vocabulary:

complacent: contented to a fault; self-satisfied （自满的；得意的）