National Sports

USA basketball is again a model as good as gold

RIO DE JANEIRO — Twenty-four years later, the last vestige of the Dream Team exited the Olympics. Mike Krzyzewski walked slowly, on hips replaced long ago and on a left knee that needed the same surgery in April.

He is 69 now, not the 45-year-old Duke coach atop the college basketball world who landed an assistant spot on the novel and incomparable 1992 U.S. men's basketball team. Since then, USA Basketball has been to humility and back. For the past 11 years, Krzyzewski has been the program's head coach in charge of redemption and preservation. On Sunday, he fulfilled his last bit of duty, leading the Americans to their third straight gold medal and helping a team green in international play finish with its most impressive performance in a 96-66 victory over Serbia at Carioca Arena 1.

This Olympic run wasn't easy. In four of the games, it was nervously close. But it ended the same way it has in 15 of the 18 Olympics in which the U.S. men's hoops team has participated: with an undefeated gold rush.

It ended with Kevin Durant scoring 30 points, draining three-pointers and performing his version of the long jump on a breakaway dunk. It ended with DeAndre Jordan dancing so much you figured that if there were an Olympic event for bench celebration, he would have more medals than Michael Phelps. It ended with Carmelo Anthony, the four-time Olympian, becoming Team USA's career leader in scoring, rebounding and games played. But more important than records, Anthony expressed tearfully the revamped culture that Coach K and USA Basketball Managing Director Jerry Colangelo have worked on so diligently since 2005.

As fans chanted "Melo! Melo! Melo!" in the stands, Anthony said in an emotional NBC interview what anyone once concerned about USA Basketball needed to hear: He gets it. All of the American NBA stars get it. This is bigger than them.

Challenges still exist, but this isn't 2002, when an out-of-shape and volatile team placed sixth in the world championships. Dominance requires constant maintenance, but this isn't 2004, when the United States lost three times in a disappointing bronze medal effort, the only time the Americans haven't won gold since the NBA players became a part of the Olympics in 1992.

The program has been righted, and that fact continues to be reinforced. The United States has won the past five major international tournaments: the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics and the 2010 and 2014 world championships. Coach K completed his 11 years as the national team coach with 76 consecutive wins and an 88-1 record, losing only to Greece in the semifinals of the 2006 world championships.

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Anthony has been on this journey since 2004. He knew embarrassment. He has contributed to reform. And now, with Coach K, he exits having rebuilt a proud tradition.

"We fought," said Anthony, who has won four Olympic medals (three golds and a bronze in 2004), more than any U.S. men's basketball player. "It wasn't always pretty. We came together July 17, and we all committed for this one reason right now. It was a special moment for me."

He continued as the tears started running: "I know this is the end. This is it for me. I committed to something. I committed to this in '04. I've seen the worst, and I've seen the best. I stuck with it. We stuck with it. I'm here today, three gold medals later. I'm excited for me but also for the other guys who've never experienced anything like this. Coach K, myself, Jerry Colangelo and everybody else who's been a part of this situation and been a part of USAB since I've been here."

He wasn't finished: "I just want to say thank you for allowing me to be one of the leaders not just of our team but of our country. Despite everything that's going on right now in our country, we've got to be united. I'm glad I did what I did. I stepped up to the challenge. This is what it's about. Representing our country on the biggest stage you can be on. America will be great again. I believe that. We've got a lot of work to do, but it's one step at a time, and I'm glad we represented in the fashion that we did."

It's a tricky task, maintaining this tradition with NBA players who absolutely can't lose. When the United States wins, it's ho-hum. When it loses, it's the biggest story in sports.

You don't watch the Olympics with morbid curiosity over whether Phelps or Usain Bolt will lose. You want to see them dominate. But with a pro-led U.S. basketball team, you're often watching to babysit an upset. When the United States plays a close game, it faces criticism. When it blows out teams, it must answer questions about the lack of competitiveness. These are just accepted parts of the job.

"One of the officials here said to me, 'You know, the next time you play, you ought to play with four,' " Colangelo recalled. "I said, 'No, maybe the other teams ought to get their act together and compete.'"

Krzyzewski, the West Point graduate who takes any type of service seriously, barely celebrated. He left the moment to his players. Late in the blowout, he put Anthony back into the game to break the rebounding record. Then he pulled Anthony with 1:53 remaining, letting him bathe in applause. When the buzzer sounded, Krzyzewski took that slow, labored walk.

He hugged Serbia Coach Aleksandar Dordevic and congratulated the rest of the opponents. He waved at his family in the crowd. Then he stood back as his players danced in a circle and pointed No. 1 fingers into the television cameras.

Coaches aren't awarded gold medals at the Olympics. They don't get to stand on the podium and listen to their national anthem. For Krzyzewski, the reward is more personal. And for the United States, the impact of his leadership is clear.

"The main thing is all the memories," Coach K said. "For me, seven of my grandchildren were here. A few of them have been to all three Olympics. What a blessing, that the nights before the last three Games I get a chance to eat with my grandchildren, my wife, my daughters, for them to share this. A lot of the guys, their families have shared this. So that's what I take from it. It's been a joy. I've been so lucky to have been given this opportunity."

And while he doesn't get the Olympic gold medal, Colangelo makes sure the coaches receive a gold memento, too.

"Jerry is a rich guy, so he makes sure," Krzyzewski said. "I think they're gold. They look like it."

He has two of these special gold medals at home already. A third is coming soon. Whenever he needs a reminder of a job well done, he can look at them.

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