`All business' now, Iverson says of games

By DAVID DUPREE

USA TODAY

ATHENS, Greece - All of the U.S. men's basketball team's faults have been exposed. It struggled just to qualify for the medal round, finishing fourth in the six-team group.

Off the court, players have heard about how they don't play smart, how they can't shoot, who isn't on the team; how that they are just another team, not the mighty world conqueror of past Olympics.

They can right all of that with a gold medal. It will take three wins in the next three days to pull it off.

The quest starts Thursday in earnest against perhaps the toughest opponent the USA has faced so far, Spain, in the quarterfinals. A victory advances the USA to a game against Greece or Argentina in the semifinals Friday. The gold medal game is Saturday.

``This isn't fun,'' said guard Allen Iverson, the USA's second-leading scorer (13.8 points a game). ``It's all business, and rightfully so. We didn't set out to have fun. The fun part will be standing on that podium with the gold medal.''

The USA's woes in going 3-2 in the preliminary round have been well documented - they can't shoot (21-for-89, 23.6 percent from three-point range, last among all teams; 46 percent from the field, seventh overall; next-to-last in free throw percentage at 64 percent.) The USA is first in rebounds and first in assists, however. The fact that this is a team of stars with no real role players able to subjugate themselves to play more of a team game has been a problem.

``We can't worry about what's being said about not bringing any shooters here. We know that everyone on our team can hit shots,'' Carmelo Anthony said.

``This is what we have,'' coach Larry Brown said. ``I can't wish and hope for something we don't have.''

Spain, led by center Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies, cruised undefeated through a tougher draw in Group A, and because of its size and athleticism matches up well with the United States.

``They're (Spain) the best team I've seen thus far,'' Brown said. ``Gasol is as good of a player as there is in the tournament, but they're a veteran team, they're a team that beat the United States at home in Indianapolis at the 2002 World Championship.''

Still, the USA is the team most opponents fear the most, despite the difficulties in Athens.

``Seventeen or 18 years ago there was a huge difference between the United States and the rest of the world, but the international game has caught up,'' said Sarunas Jasikevicius, who had 28 points in Lithuania's 94-90 win against the USA. ``The NBA is the best league in the world and the best players play in that league, but the best players from that league are not here. They're still probably the favorite to win the gold medal, but they're not unbeatable.''

Iverson thinks the USA is finally ready to show the rest of the basketball world why what has happened so far in the Olympic tournament is meaningless.

``We should have all the losing out of our system,'' he said. ``It doesn't matter who we face or when we face them. We just want to beat everybody we do face and get the gold medal. We just have to play basketball and that's it.''

Another advantage the USA may have is that it is like the NBA playoffs now and NBA players are capable of turning things up a notch, while most of the other teams don't have another gear they can go to.

At the same time, it is also different from the NBA playoffs and more like an NCAA tournament because it is one and done.

``It's not like the NBA playoffs where you can come back from a bad game in a seven-game series,'' assistant coach Gregg Popovich said. ``You have to be ready every minute of every quarter. You're playing 40 minutes, not 48, so you don't have much time to recover.''