MADRID– United States’ senior national men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski only got to work with 6-3 point guard Kyrie Irving for 10 games at Duke in 2011.
But he is quickly finding out what he missed.
Irving, who was averaging 17.4 points per game on 53 percent shooting, 5.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals in the first eight games of season, suffered a severe ligament injury in his right leg that sidelined him indefinitely. He returned for the NCAA tournament that spring and scored 28 points against Arizona in the Sweet 16 in what turned out to be his final college game.
Irving declared for the NBA and was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first pick overall. Now, after winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award, making the All Star game in 2014 and being named the MVP of the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball, Irving looks like he could be on a fast track to make the U.S. 2016 Summer Olympic team.
He put on a brilliant audition here at the FIBA World Cup for basketball when he shot 10-for-13 and scored 26 points as Team USA buried Serbia, 129-92, at the Palais de los Deportes here to win the gold medal in major pre-Olympic international competition. Irving made all six threes he attempted and set the tone for the blowout when he scored 15 points in the first quarter as the Americans, who rallied from a 15-7 deficit to jump out to a 35-17 lead, then rolled the rest of the way, leading by 40 at one point.
“Playing awith the best in the world, that’s where I want to be, that’s where I should be,” Irving said.
Forward James Harden, a member of the U.S. 2012 Olympic team, scored 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting and six other players scored in double figures for an unselfish team that shot 58 percent and made 15 of 30 threes.
The overwhelming victory gave Team USA an automatic bid to the summer games in Rio. The player’s performance was pure brilliance. Irving and forward Kenneth Faried joined center Pau Gasol of Spain, guard Nicolas Batum of France and guard Millo Teodosic of Serbia on the all tournament team, but you could make a case that four other U.S. players — centers Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, Harden, guard Klay Thompson– deserved spots on that team.
“In 2010, Kevin Durant carried us,” Krzyzewski said. “This team didn’t have that one big star. Kyrie Irving was certainly deserving of winning the MVP Trophy, but we had a different star every night. I think the results were dominant. but I think we had spurts in a lot of games. We had tough games and then all of a sudden, we’d have a spurt and it looked like we dominated. Tonight, we had a 35 minute spurt. We played great.”
Sadly, there may be only so much room on the 2016 Olympic roster if LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and LeMarcus Aldridge, who are all part of the 33-man pool, decide to play. Assuming Davis, who was part of the 2012 team, will be part of the mix, there leaves just three spots available.
This group will always have Madrid though and the satisfaction of knowing they were able to overcome adversity by playing together as a true team.
“In the 2010 World Championships, Kevin Durant carried us. He had an amazing performance,” Krzyzewski said. “This team didn’t have that one big star. Kyrie Irving was certainly deserving of winning the MVP Trophy, but we had a different star each game. Klay Thompson was critical for this team. James Harden, DeiMarcus Cousins with his heart. Anthony Davis at the start of our run. So it was not like there was one star. We were a championship team. It was kind of cool. I think the results were dominant. but I think we had spurts in a lot of games. We had tough games and then all of a sudden, we’d have a spurt and it looked like we dominated. Tonight, we had a 35 minute spurt of dominance.
No one shone brighter against Serbia than Irving, the Australian-American player who was born in Melborne, where his father Drederick played professional basketball and relocated to West Orange, N.J. with his family when he was just two years old.
Irving is only 23 years old and already entering his fourth year in the NBA. Like the rest of the rising stars on this team, whose average age is only 24 years old, his best days are still ahead of him. Irving has a chance to become the best point guard in the league by this time next year if things work out in Cleveland with new additions James and Love. This experience will certainly help him become the leader the Cavs need, rather than just a prolific scorer.
“For me, it was all about playing with the best players in the world,” he said. “Being part of USA basketball, you’re part of something bigger than yourself. I just kind of threw myself in there.– whatever coach needed, whatever my teammates needed, I was willing to do. I think we all shared that thought because nothing is guaranteed, no matter what anyone said.
Team USA made it look so easy in this competition, winning with a young, inexperienced team, many who are on this roster only because more established stars like Durant, Love, Westbrook, Paul George and Griffin withdrew because of injuries, contractual issues and and fatigue after a long NBA season. Krzyzewski and Team USA general manager Jerry Colangelo have combined to win four straight world championships s ince they took over this program in 2006. But this one, as Colangelo said, “might be the sweetest.”
“Anytime we win, it’s the sweetest one,” Krzyzewski said, “because nobody guarantees you the sweets. You’re not going to trade Olympic gold medals in Beijing and London, they were sweet too. The thing these guys did, they did not pay attention to things that would normally be excuses. Like, we’re never gong to be able to do this because of . . . Instead, we’re going to be able to do this. Now, we did have to change a lot when Kevin decided not to play because it changed our offense. Tonight, we hit a lot of threes. Kyrie was pretty good with the threes. Six-for-six. Not bad. But we invented new ways to score, off our defense, off offensive rebounds. It wasn’t the three point shot, like it was in 2012 London.”
Kryzyzewski discovered new stars like Faried and the 6-11 Cousins, who personally shut down Serbia inside after Davis picked up a second personal foul midway though the first quarter. “I think he turned the game around,” Krzyzewski said. “In fact, I know he did. We just made another stop. or he just made another stop. Or he knocked the rim off the rim. (6-11 Naned) Krstic wasn’t able to score.”.
It should be fun to watch them compete against more established stars when Team USA holds its mini-camp next July before choosing his Olympic team.
No one could have expected what happened here.
Spain entered the tournament as the prohibitive favorite with nine current or former NBA players — including 7-1 Pau Gasol, 7-0 Marc Gasol, 6-10 Serge Ibaka and guard Ricky Rubio– on its roster and what appeared to be an easy road to the finals, playing all of its games in their own country.
Spain had the ability to score 90 points, but their shooting betrayed them in the quarterfinals when they fell apart offensively, losing to bronze medal winner France, 65-52. Team USA had one hiccup early when it fell behind Turkey for a half, but they still won that pool play game by 21 and then took their game to another in knockout round, winning by an average of 35 points.
The tournament speaks volumes for the strength of American basketball, who looks like it is actually widening the gap between itself and the rest of the world. “When we started out nine years ago, Jerry and the staff. we had two goals. One, was to try to win gold medals and 1a was to win the respect of the our country and world in how it would be done,” Krzyzewski said. “And i think the reason we’d won is because we do have that respect. We know how good everyone is. It’s beautiful basketball. We prepare like crazy and we learn from the international community. We get better instead of of just saying we know how to play. There’s a lot of ways to play.”
