TOKYO (AP) – The United States men’s basketball team recently enlisted in Las Vegas to face Spain in their final game to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics. Before the meeting, the Spanish Ricky Rubio spoke with the American base Zach LaVine.
Rubio has more than a decade of experience in the international fair. LaVine is only a few weeks old.
“This is different,” LaVine told Rubio.
Rubio nodded. LaVine was right.
The hoops are also 10 feet high, and most of the court looks the same as it does in the NBA, but the subtleties of international basketball – an Olympic sport – are very different. It is played in four periods of 10 minutes each instead of 12, the games go faster and there are fewer opportunities to stop the clock.
The 3-point line is closer to the basket, the level of physical duels is higher, and much of what happens on defense under FIBA regulations just doesn’t happen in the NBA.
“I mean, it’s basketball but it’s a little different,” Rubio said. “That said, it’s not just the rules, it’s also the role they play on the team. Maybe you’ve made a field goal or two in the first quarter when you usually have about five or six in the first five minutes of the game, and you have to be ready for that. There is a lot of defensive brand; he scores differently in the NBA than in the FIBA. There is a lot of physical contact. I would say that it is played differently ”.
And Gregg Popovich, who manages the US team, has pointed out many times – first when he coached the United States at the Basketball World Cup a couple of years ago and now at the Tokyo Games – that many of the Olympic teams have more time together. and they are more familiar with the rules.
Popovich has broached the subject often with this team. In particular, he has insisted that the match lasts 40 minutes and not 48.
“You can’t have a bad room,” said the San Antonio Spurs quarterback. “In the NBA you can do that, but those last eight minutes are really important. Sometimes that’s where the talent comes in. But in a 40-minute game there are fewer possessions. If you lose the ball, it can be more serious … It is a matter of concentrating a lot, without expecting anything, without asking for anything and being very serious from the beginning ”.
