Coach K angry at suggestion Team USA ran up the score on Nigeria
The United States men's basketball team routed Nigeria 156-73 on Thursday in a record-breaking performance. But head coach Mike Krzyzewski wasn't pleased when asked if the team had run up the score.
Krzyzewski responded with this:
"We didn't play LeBron (James) and Kobe (Bryant) in the second half, and with Carmelo (Anthony) shooting like that, we benched him. We didn't take any fast breaks in the fourth quarter and we played all zone. You have to take a shot every 24 seconds, and the shots we took happened to be hit.
"I take offense to this question because there's no way in the world that our program in the United States sets out to humiliate anyone."
Krzyzewski then nodded towards Nigerian coach Ayodele Bakare and claimed he would find it humiliating if the U.S. hadn't played hard.
I find myself in the awkward position of defending Coach K right now, but he's right. Anyone who watched that game should know that there was no way it was going to be close. I mean, Anthony scored 37 points and he only played 14 minutes.
I'm not sure what the reported expected when Team USA put its All-Star team on the floor against a Nigerian team led by the likes of Ike Diogu and Al-Farouq Aminu.
The suggestion that the U.S. should just stop playing and essentially not try to at least play the game against its opponents is ridiculous. This team is just so good that when it is clicking on all cylinders, it will blow out anyone in its path.
Photo: Garrett Ellwood/National Basketball/Getty Images
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42 Comments:
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First, it is all about the money.
Baseball and sofball were removed because for all pracitical puroposes, the US was going to win 99% of the time.
There is no equitable competition in Olympic Basketball now.
Go ahead and plan the parade and sign the endorsments now.
Olympic basketball may as well be a Harlem Globetrotter Circus exhibition.
In most competition, spectators go to appreciate the value of the unknown victor.
This is just a sideshow for the money! -
You're forgetting Spain. If US is going to win 99% of the time, Spain are the one-percent'ers...so I wouldn't go planning any parades and signing any endorsements just yet.
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Spain??? You mean the country that barely beat "power house" Great Britain " by 2 points??? The sane Great Britain team wiyh only 1 NBA player (Luol Deng) and only 2 players at 6'10"??? Have you ever watched a basketball game or do you just churn out UNINFORMED hate??? Spain indeed.It is to laugh.
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You certainly do drag out the word "hate" and use it loosely as if it were a Sword. I am tired of all of this "hate" B.S. I am confounded as to how you managed to see "hate" in the comment to which you replied. "Hate" and "phobia" or "phobic" are almost always used these days inappropriately and in an extremely exagerrated context.
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You know the Olympics is about bringing your county's best athletes to compete against the others throughout the world. I say great job to team USA!!!! It was not the job of Coach K to stop his team from scoring and I were playing against them I would find it more humiliating to know that my oponent was not playing to their potiential just because I was not good enough.
No one made them enter their team into this competition. I personally hope it happens in every game they play. Go USA!!!!!!!! -
Coach 'K,' you humiliate yourself by looking like a rat, literaly. Then, there are way of not rubbing salt in the wound against a team which does not even have a professional league in its country. Sitting out Kobe, Lebron and Carmelo, big deal. Put in your worst players, have them run out the clock and not try to score. You are an affront to decency.
Oh, and BTW, nice first round loss in the NCAA this year. And two titles with all of the talent you have had for decades, NOT impressive. Overrated, rat face. -
Hey, ff1212...or whatever your misnomer is: STOP the personal attacks on Coach K!! You sound like a flaming liberal, full of hate because you can't make a valid argument against one of the finest coaches the world has ever seen. This is competition...and if Nigeria couldn't put together a competitive unit to begin with, then they should have stayed home and concentrated on their running skills, which they're very good at. Coach K's collegiate record speaks for itself!!! What are you??? One of those greasy Tarheels from Chapel Hill???!!!
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Great! Just when I was enjoying a nice day without any political drivel some loud-mouth conservative ruins it. This is SPORTS, not politics, so leave the politics out of it! But then again, you're probably one of those faux news sheeple so I understand if you can't help but make a desperate attempt at making everything about politics.
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Wait a minute, I happen to be a Tarheel Alum. However I also know that Carolina and Duke are both excellent programs. Dean Smith was the best coach that ever lived and was often accused of running up the score. Roy Williams is also another great coach as is Coach K. If you really knew anything about Dean Smith, Roy Williams and Coach K. you would know that this is true. Why don't you do some homework about these three coaches, they are the best of the best. Example; Dean Smith is one of three that played and coached a National Champoinship Team (not to mention winning the Olympics)
Coach Smith played at Kansas under Fog Allen who played under Coach James Naismith. You may remember him, he invented basketball and started the basketball program at K.U. I think that the State of North Carolina is very fortunate that we have two of the best College Basketball programs in the nation, which are only seven miles apart. Again, I am a Tarheel Alum but I also know how great Coach K is. Your attack on Carolina was as bad as the attacks of "ff1212 were on Coach K ! So "FOXFANATIC I think that you need a check up from the neck up. Stop being so mean to people, by defending Coach K you have lowered yourself to the level of "ff1212" by attaking Carolina and calling us "greasy Tarheels". Have A Blessed Day, batjacjw PS If you want to continue this conversation, go to riobravo.rlt@gmail.com . -
Like The Ol' Ball coach,Steve Spurrier used to say when he was accused of running it up: If you can get the other tean to stop trying to score and we'll stop too!!!" Team US put in the scrubs and only shot jumpers as the shot clock wound down but there is only so much you can do when the competition is inferior.(Competition:NOT coloer,culture or country!!!!!)
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Ok you must not have looked at the roster properly. You do realize Coach K's "worst players" would form a lineup of Russel Westbrook,Tyson Chandler, Anthony Davis, Andre Igoudala and James Harden. To translate that for you, no matter what Coach K could have done, Nigeria was going to die in this game. Nigeria's team leaders are guys who are barely considered role players in the NBA. And "try not to score", what the **** kind of competition do u think this is?
Good call out on that first round loss though, Im sure the most successful college coach in history really cares that someone like u brings that up. -
I love it when people such as yourself let stupid crap run freely from their mouth without even getting the facts right. Coach K has won 4 titles with Duke, but that's irrelevant to the article. While I don't agree with pro athletes being used in the Olympics, we do, and they're out to win. You can't expect them to just lay down and hand the ball to the other team. Nigeria's players had opportunities to stop the US offense and failed miserably.
Next time someone pees in your cheerios pour them out and start fresh. No need to eat them anyway and be angry at the world. -
To bad your such a M0R0N ff1212. If you'd been watching these games you'd see that teams from China, South Korea and Indonesia were cited by the Badminton World Federation for "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport." They were losing on purpose, not trying and if you know how to read you saw what coach "K" said, "We didn't play LeBron (James) and Kobe (Bryant) in the second half, and with Carmelo (Anthony) shooting like that, we benched him. We didn't take any fast breaks in the fourth quarter and we played all zone. You have to take a shot every 24 seconds, and the shots we took happened to be hit." Also did you read what the Nigerian coach said? If you have trouble understanding what was said maybe you could ask a friend to read this article to you.
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Let me guess...unc fan? What a joke you are. You can't even handle Coach K winning when the team is representing the country, huh? He may look like a rat but your words reflect those of someone that, most likely, acts like a pig.
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Who are the worst players....Let's see, James Hardin, he was in, Anthony Davis, He was in, Andrea Iguodala, he was in, put iin any of the guards, it WOULDN'T MATTER!
You have a Duke problem, nothing more, Coach K must have beaten your team too often!
I am no Duke lover, but when you post nonesense, expect to be called on it!
Your post is a waste of space. -
What a joke. These are the Olympics. You put your best team out there and if your team sucks then don't compete. Should the USA just have laid down and let them try to catch up and turn Olympic basketball into badmitten? They probably would have been sent packing. I think Coach K did the right thing. I would have had the team try to break the 200 point mark. These are the Olympics people. The Best in the World compete and if you can kick their A#@, then you do it.
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I agree. This aint PE after lunch in middle school. Its the Olympics. Come to play, and play hard or dont even bother to show up.
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Why was he accused of trying to humiliate the other team? Just a couple of days ago 8 Badmintners were disqualified for trying to take it easy. Is someone trying to get the US Basketball Team disqualified on the premise that they were not giving the game their all?
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You can't have it both ways! They kick badminton players and coaches out of the Olympics for not trying hard enough and now some moron reporters accuses coach K of running up the score? If you are out classed and are offended when you suffer a huge loss maybe you should not be there!
As for USA being the only team of quality don't forget the Russians did beat USA a few years back even though it was a shame. It was close enough to happen.
Having a dominate team is not justification for eliminating a sport. If so, you need to eliminate several sports e.g. diving-China, badminton-China, table tennis-Asian countries only, etc. -
Hay, "2HUGE4U2" Are you talking about the year that the US team won the game four times only to have it drug out by the officials until Russia finally had more points than the US and then the game was stopped? I saw that and would like to watch it again but I can't remember what year it happened. Do you know? If you do, please tell me when. You can contact me at riobravo.rlt@gmail.com . Thanks.
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Basketball has been an Olympic event since way before the first Dream Team. Then the NBA saw the chance to market the league stars and took it. But that is no reason to remove basketball from the games. American players just happen to be better than others the same way Chinese are better at diving or table tennis. Let's just enjoy their exhibition: this is the only chance to see so many good players together (there is no competition on the All-Star games). Also, as we learned eight years ago, there is a chance for losing.
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Those calling to get rid of it are silly. Yes, it has been largely the US's show since 92 (before then as well to a lesser degree). Is that a basis to remove it? How many other nations dominate a particular event? Plenty of them. There are many nations that steamroll events seemingly every competition. Give them their medals and practice and train harder.
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Coach K has been in this game for long, but he is just totally wrong in this one. When you are up more than 50 points on a team that is making their debut in Basketball at the Olympics, there is no need to try to humiliate them. What he did yesterday supports the rumor against him that he dilikes foriegn players or any forsigner coming close to basketball. Look at his teams of the past. When America's representatives acts the way Coach K did, it only engenders hard feelings for US. May be in another sport, USA will get a taste of their medicine. Coach K will not be recriuting from Nigeria any time soon.
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"Flytalk" I honestly think that you are wrong. Dean Smith was often accused of running up the score. You have to keep in mind that Coach Smith and Coach K (who have both coached in the Olympics) are in that position to win, not to make the other teams feel warm and fuzzy.
The same thing applies when they are running their programs at Carolina and Duke.
I remember an old TV commercial, the coach had his team in the locker room at halftime and was telling each player about the mistakes they were making and how they needed to do better, then one player says "but coach, are we not winning and are we not ahead by a lot ?"
The coach responded by saying, yes we are ahead by a lot but did you want me to wait until we got behind ? -
This ain't badminton you don't play to lose, you play to win.
Hey, if you think they should end basketball in the Olympics because a team (USA) dominates, then they should have ended basketball back in the 70s when the USSR dominated. Back then we sent our college students to play against the world's professionals. We got cheated out of victory. Now it's our pros. Payback's a beeeeatch!
I say GO USA, kick the world's arse!!!!! -
Ok, did I wake up in some strange Bizaro type universe this morning? It was my understanding that Olympic events are brutal fierce competitions of the world's best of the best. Which go out there and give it thier all. Im really sorry that this other country's all was not as much as our all, well maybe you should train a little better. This is not someone's driveway or a fenced in concrete slab in philly. This is the freakin Olympics. How can you honestly expect these atheletes to show up and say, "We don't want to offend anyone so lets go out there and be sub par, now get out there and tie!" I think Team USA should have run them into the ground. Can you imagine the humiliation of going through life knowing someone "LET" you win? So lets think about one more thing. What if the score had been reversed. What if Nigeria had gotten the big score and USA got the low end? It would be hailed as a great victory. It would be talked about for months and years even after the olympics. However, I can promise you that NO ONE would be saying they tried to run the score up on us. Now I will say this. I do not agree with professional sports athletes playing. I dont mean an athelete that gets sponsors for something. I mean actual contracted salaried players. In closing are we supposed to start giving countries "sympathy medals" for showing up? You got beat, where I come from we say, "You got skunked." Take it, learn from it, use it, train with it, and come back and kick our butts.
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It's an unfair advantage because of the skill level. The Olympics and world championships should showcase the best amateur basketball players in the world. The pros already have their contracts and money. You don't see professional boxers fighting in the Olympics. Baseball, when it comes back in 2020 won't have professionals.
I think there might be an added incentive for college basketball players to stay longer than one year if they have a possible Olympic team inclusion. -
Basketball is an Olympic event for non proffessionals amateurs> The Dream Team has cheapend sport by bring in proffessioal basket ball players who make a living from the sport. I know the argument that other countries bring in proffessionals but. If your friend steals something does that mean you have the right to steal.
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who cares if he is angry?
I was very disappointed when the Olympics started allowing these proffesional millionaires compete in the Olympics. The spirit of the Olympics were always of the Amatuer Athlete and the hard work and spirit with a sense of accomplishment. It was important and it mattered to them and to the Country. Athletes since the begining have had medals taken away, even postumusly, for even being given a place to stay while they trained or for meals. Now you can make $100 Million per season playing basketball and still win a gold medal. I am not proud of that! At the very least have a mix of amatuers and proffesionals so the competition is more even. -
The Olympics are not about fair, they are about atletes competing on a level playing field and the IOC cannot even get that right. Having some idiot whine about the score when they know full well who they are going to go against and to not have the tools or preparation to compete is not anyone's fault but the loser.
The team for the USA is composed of a mix of pro and college competitors, they play to win, before the pros were allowed to cpmpete for the US other nations put pro teams on the floor, we simply leveled the playing field by the rules being set forth. To hear some ninny wail and moan is epitome of ignorance, you either came to play by the rules or you should not be playing at all....The US brought the Dream Team and taught the world how to play the game of basket ball. -
Just showing their lack of class and big head. No need to show their a$$. But I guess considering the source it was expected.
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Wow, I'm a Kentucky fan backing Coach K. I guess anythings possible. It was a stupid question, but one a reporter will ask every time because the resulting article will be better. It's about being read/watched, not having the masses agree with you. Sell those ads reporter. I think K's response was perfect in the measures they took as well as how it would've looked if done differently. I'd be angry if I was playing them and they allowed the game to "seem" more competitive. All these guys are adults with pride. They don't need rec league mercy rules and such to avoid warping their impressionable minds.
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Send the NBA home the dream team home. We should not be trying to get even with teams that at the time used pros. It's time to play the games without professional help. Seem's if we can not win, lossing is a word that we can not accept. You would think that just being there, is very rewarding or I don't get it??
The Olympics are not real, when all this bad publicity makes us look worse.
Guess it would look bad for the NBA millioners to get beat by the underdog, now that would be a miricle!!! -
The only thing more boring than the NBA is watching the American basketball team in the Olympics. There should not be pros in the Olympics, especially America's spoiled, narcississtic NBA players. I hope they lose. -
Yea, whatever. This is the same coach that sent one his goons to break the nose of an opposing player, because he thought the score was being run up on him. When he was only down by 12 points. He then proceeded to call said goon "the real victim", after he was suspended by the ACC.
Coach K, world class hypocrit. -
I guess you can see who the competitors in this group are. It would have been much more embarrasing for Nigeria if the US just stop playing. Maybe the US should have started scoring points for Nigeria! That would make them feel really good about themselves. Same goes for having pro's compete, how much pride is there for another country to beat a US team when they know they are not playing the US's best? As a coach and a player, it is okay to slow down (which they did do) but never is it acceptable to lay down. I've never been a fan of Duke but I have the upmost respect for Coach K and his abilities as a coach.
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Yea, whatever. This is the same coach that sent one his goons to break an opposing players nose because he thought the score was being run up on him. And that was only with a 12 point lead. He then proceeded to call said goon "the real victim" after he was suspended for one game by the ACC.
Coach K, world class hypocrit. -
Also, I have yet to see anyone mention that France used a professional player, Tony Parker. Not only that, some countries with dictatorships won't allow their athletes to leave beyond their borders to play professionally for anyone else and keep them there for one thing only...the Olympics. To me, when someone is living, eating and breathing a sport as an adult beyond 18 for their country or region...that's professional status.
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You damn if you do and you damn if you don't. If he game was close, people would say how the Dream team won all thier games by 40 or more and 2012 cant compare to them. Now that 2012 won by 83, their winning by TOO much. I guess people gonna hate you for whatever you do!
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Okay, this is the height of hypocrisy. Coach K is accused of running up the score in an Olympics in which four teams have been expelled for not delivering their best competitive effort?
