Basketball: US egos take back seat in play for gold

By PETER JESSUP

It's intimidating interviewing an athlete when all you can see is two great nostrils sandwiched between two big white eyes. But without a stepladder that's the only view you get of Kevin Garnett.

The tallest and highest-paid Dream Teamer is a quietly spoken, God-fearing man who comes across without the arrogance and pretension you might expect of an international sports star.

Garnett, 24, said he was having a lot of fun with the new, younger Dream Team, then issued a backhanded warning when he said anyone taking them lightly would make a big mistake.

"I feel we have a big advantage not just in talent but in energy," Garnett said yesterday when the US men's basketball team turned out for a pre-Games talk.

On $US25 million a year, and with team-mates taking home a collective $200m, you could be forgiven for thinking these guys might not be taking this amateur contest seriously. Or that egos might get in the way of the gold medal many think they have a mortgage on.

Players pushed the team line yesterday, coach Rudy Tomjanovich saying that was the first thing he instilled in the 12 stars.

"It doesn't matter who's in the starting five," Garnett said. "We're all here for the same goal and if you worry about that it's an ego problem and we don't have any of that around here."

They believe they'll win. On the way out of practice, Tim Hardaway was asked if the team would be satisfied with anything other than gold. "Anything less than gold would be uncivilised," he replied, altering a line from a television deodorant ad that features former Dream Teamers Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen.

Tomjanovich has made much of the team's defensive abilities and the fact all players, particularly Garnett, can play in all positions.

They're expecting the international sides to run a zonal defence to set a perimeter that will try to keep their scorers out, and that they'll try and score themselves from beyond the US defence, aiming for three-pointers rather than running lanes to the basket.

"We'll play to our strengths - we're defensively-minded, aggressive, very athletic, explosive and unselfish. These guys respect everyone and they also like each other and those are the hallmarks of a great team. People who love basketball are in for a treat because these guys love the game."

Of their pool game against New Zealand, Sean Marks' Toronto Raptors team-mate, Vince Carter, said the Dream Teamers wouldn't take anyone lightly.

They had watched video of other teams but knew little about the Tall Blacks, "but it doesn't matter what it says on the jersey, when we step on the floor it's business as usual."

Marks and the Kiwi team played Canada on Thursday, going with the Canucks most of the game apart from a bad patch in the third quarter where they let in 30 quick points.

The effort, coming after the win in the William Jones Cup and the way they pushed Russia to overtime and wrestled with Canada in pre-Games work, has given the side belief they can unsettle anyone in Sydney.

Winning looks almost impossible, but the Tall Blacks don't believe that. Certainly with Marks, Utah-based Mark Dickel, US-experienced Paul Henare and Kirk Penney and others, including Pero Cameron and Phill Jones who have played in European leagues, this is the best ever New Zealand team.

Their hope lies in getting physical, the way Australia did against the US in Melbourne last week. There was a rash of fouls and plenty of push and shove.

The Tall Blacks are fit. Dickel is over a lower-back injury he suffered in training in New Zealand a fortnight ago. He's hoping to impress Australian league scouts, in a bid for a job with the Victorian Titans.

The United States open their campaign against China tomorrow night, while New Zealand play France tomorrow morning.