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00:00 [SIDE CONVERSATION]
00:22 OK, we're going to resume the press conference, USA
00:24 beating New Zealand tonight in their first game
00:26 here at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Manila, '99 to '72.
00:30 Austin Reeves has joined us along with Steve Kerr,
00:34 the coach.
00:35 Austin, congratulations.
00:36 Can you give us a comment, please, on the game?
00:39 Obviously not the start we wanted.
00:41 We'll go back and watch film and learn from that.
00:44 But our intensity and our physicality
00:48 after that first five minutes was much better.
00:51 But like I said, we'll go learn from this
00:53 and move forward to Greece.
00:56 Thank you, Austin.
00:57 Coach Kerr?
00:58 Yeah, really good game for us to experience.
01:02 New Zealand was great.
01:03 They came out and were very physical right away
01:07 and took it to us.
01:09 And we need to feel that because that's what these games are
01:12 going to be like.
01:13 But I love the way we responded.
01:15 And we feel like over 40 minutes that we can wear teams down.
01:22 It's hard to play that way.
01:25 As physical as New Zealand was, it's
01:27 hard to sustain that for 40 minutes.
01:30 And we feel like as long as we stay with it,
01:34 we can overcome a start like that, which we did very well
01:39 and then eventually pulled away.
01:41 OK.
01:43 We'll take questions now in the back in the pinkish shirt.
01:46 Yep.
01:48 Salmon, thank you.
01:50 Steve, Tim Reynolds of the AP.
01:54 You've said a lot that you have 12 starters.
01:56 But do you even look at bench points
01:57 and getting 54 off the bench tonight,
02:00 the way that second unit was just able to settle things down
02:03 after that early spurt?
02:04 How critical is it that, again, guys have accepted a role
02:08 that they're just not used to playing all the time?
02:10 Yeah, I mean, that's the message from day one
02:13 is that this is not the NBA.
02:15 This is FIBA.
02:16 We're going to need all 12.
02:18 It's going to be a different guy every night.
02:21 Tonight, Paolo came off the bench and was amazing,
02:26 knocking down a couple of threes,
02:27 but also the physicality, the shot blocks.
02:30 But the whole second unit really came in and righted the ship
02:34 after that slow start.
02:36 But we feel good about that.
02:37 Every game that we've had, that whole group
02:42 with Austin and Tyrese and the ball movement,
02:50 the change of pace that we have with that group,
02:52 it's really fun to watch.
02:55 Jeff Vardin with The Athletic.
02:57 Steve, two-parter, do you consider making a lineup change
03:01 at halftime?
03:02 And then I want to know about the pregame.
03:05 Just seemed like everything was off a little from the time
03:09 you guys came out to the team picture.
03:11 I'm just wondering if that had anything
03:13 to do with the slow start.
03:14 I did not consider a lineup change at halftime.
03:18 This was sort of a typical first game,
03:22 whether it's FIBA or the NCAA tournament,
03:25 that you get the first game jitters.
03:27 And one of the things that we've talked to our team about
03:31 a little bit is how excited everybody else is going
03:33 to be to play against us.
03:35 And New Zealand came out and hit us in the mouth,
03:38 and they were great.
03:40 And that's good.
03:41 That's good for us to feel.
03:44 The other stuff, as far as the pregame photo and all that,
03:51 I mean, that's just part of the pomp and circumstance.
03:55 So you get that out of the way, and you
03:57 move on to the next game.
03:59 OK, right here.
04:01 Hey, Austin.
04:01 Nico from Slam Philippines.
04:03 So by far, you heard the loudest welcome out of anybody
04:08 that played today, considering you're
04:10 playing with some of the brightest names, some
04:12 of the more famous names in all of basketball on your team.
04:16 Was that something that you expected coming here?
04:18 Did someone tip you off that this is, by extension,
04:21 Lakers country, and that the zip code here
04:23 is the same zip code as LA?
04:25 What was your expectation coming into today,
04:27 and your reaction when you heard that roar?
04:29 Yeah, I kind of seen it coming.
04:31 I was talking to Phil Handy, and he was telling me
04:34 that they love the Lakers out here.
04:36 So I kind of seen it coming.
04:38 And then just it's special for me.
04:42 I'm from a super small town, obviously.
04:45 Didn't really-- not a lot of people
04:48 expected me to be here, represent our country.
04:51 So for them to accept me the way that they accept me,
04:55 it means a lot to me.
04:57 OK, the man in the colorful shirt
04:59 back here, next to the camera.
05:01 Do you see him?
05:02 Raise your hand, please.
05:04 Yes, sir.
05:04 There you go.
05:05 Give him a microphone.
05:07 Coach, congratulations on a great win.
05:09 This is Armando Valadez from Mexicali, Mexico,
05:13 Canal 66.
05:14 We always wonder, Coach, being playing in FIBA,
05:17 is there a big difference between the FIBA way
05:20 of playing ball and the way we're used to in the USA?
05:23 What are your thoughts about that?
05:25 Yes, very different game.
05:27 The rules are different.
05:30 The interpretations of rules are different.
05:33 The physicality.
05:36 And then, of course, it's eight minutes shorter.
05:41 There's a lot of different aspects to FIBA.
05:44 And that was part of the focus for the first two
05:46 weeks of practice, what these guys was trying to help them
05:51 understand the differences between the NBA and FIBA.
05:54 So we're still learning those differences.
05:56 And we'll still learn each game.
06:00 And we'll get a better feel for everything.
06:02 But I love the way these guys have responded.
06:04 And started to figure out the flow of the FIBA game
06:09 compared to the NBA.
06:12 Go ahead.
06:12 You got it.
06:13 You got the mic.
06:15 John Mark Garcia from Spin.ph.
06:17 So Austin, an early part of your career,
06:20 the stages you get to play at grow bigger and bigger.
06:24 So how much are you embracing the bigger responsibilities
06:28 as well that come along with it for you
06:29 as a young player and rising star in the league?
06:33 I love it.
06:34 That's what you play for.
06:36 Every kid wants to be at this stage.
06:40 And I was one of those kids watching
06:43 the World Cup, the Olympics.
06:45 So yes, every day I wake up and I cherish those moments.
06:52 And I don't take them for granted.
06:54 But every day I get to play with this much talent,
06:58 it makes it easy for me.
07:00 Just because everybody's selfless.
07:03 There's no egos on the team.
07:04 And yeah, it's just been real fun for me.
07:08 Right here in the green shirt.
07:12 Yeah, Deliz Delillo from Sportskeeda.
07:13 Coach, another question for you.
07:16 Do you feel like your team's age will
07:18 become a detrimental factor as you guys progress in the World
07:21 Cup?
07:22 No, not at all.
07:23 I love watching these guys grow.
07:27 But it's not like they're untested.
07:31 This guy kicked our butt in the playoffs a few months ago.
07:37 He may be young.
07:38 Paolo may be young.
07:40 You go down the list, we've got some young guys.
07:43 But we've got guys who can play and who have proven it
07:47 in the NBA, in the NBA playoffs.
07:50 They're fearless.
07:52 I love watching them play.
07:54 And it's been an absolute joy to coach them,
07:58 just because of their eagerness to play together,
08:02 and to be selfless, and to compete.
08:04 So it's really been a lot of fun to coach them.
08:08 And I have great confidence in them.
08:11 Jake Fisher with Yahoo Sports.
08:13 Austin, you played in a lot of multi-guard lineups
08:15 with the Lakers this season.
08:16 But that third quarter when things broke open,
08:19 it seemed like you and Tyrese playing off of each other
08:21 in the open floor.
08:22 You guys seemed to have a zippy synergy playing off one
08:25 another.
08:25 Is that something that you feel particularly
08:28 next to him in those moments in those bench lineups?
08:30 Yeah, I feel like that's kind of how we've played this whole time
08:34 since we started.
08:35 That second unit really likes to get out and run.
08:40 And that starts on the defensive end.
08:42 So the intensity has got to be super high on that end.
08:46 And once we have that, it kind of
08:49 makes the game easy, because we're able to play in
08:51 transition.
08:52 So like I said, playing with these guys,
08:54 it makes my life really easy, because you just
08:56 got to play the game the right way, because like I said,
08:59 the egos are non-existent.
09:03 OK, John.
09:04 John McGullough, Racho Pilipinas, Go Sports.
09:06 Congratulations on the win.
09:08 Question for Coach and Austin.
09:10 Was there anything that you discovered about this team
09:13 that maybe you haven't noticed in the last three weeks or so?
09:16 About our team?
09:18 No, but I think each game is a great experience for us.
09:23 Just to get more accustomed to the FIBA game and the rules.
09:27 And five fouls instead of six is a really big deal.
09:33 McHale got into foul trouble in the first half,
09:36 JJ early in the second half.
09:39 So each game that we play, we kind
09:41 of get a feeling for the differences in the game
09:46 and what we're going to have to do to be successful.
09:50 Basically the same.
09:52 Every day we get to lace them up and play
09:55 against other opponents.
09:56 It's different for practice.
09:58 Practices have been going really good.
10:00 And we've learned to play with one another every day.
10:05 But when you get in those game-like scenarios,
10:09 that intensifies.
10:11 You have to rely on one another.
10:14 So that's really the main thing, is learning really
10:16 how to play with one another.
10:18 OK.
10:21 Coach, Joe Verai from SB Nation.
10:23 Coach, you guys seem comfortable switching your bigs out
10:27 on the perimeter.
10:28 Where am I looking?
10:29 I'm sorry.
10:29 Sorry, right here.
10:30 Oh, yeah.
10:31 OK.
10:31 Hi, Coach.
10:32 You guys seem comfortable switching your bigs out
10:35 on the perimeter, having Paolo, having
10:37 Jaron out there guarding quicker guards.
10:39 And they've done a pretty good job.
10:41 But in terms of having your guards switch out
10:44 on the back line and with those mismatches
10:46 and against more physical, bigger men,
10:50 that wasn't much of a concern today.
10:51 But are you concerned about better teams
10:53 trying to exploit that?
10:55 Well, that's always the equation.
10:59 As coaches, you have to factor in all these things
11:02 when you decide what scheme to play,
11:05 whether you're switching or dropping or whatever.
11:09 You look at the opponent.
11:11 You figure out what you need to do to win that game.
11:14 Some things you live with.
11:17 You kind of go into every game and figure out
11:19 what are you willing to live with versus non-negotiables.
11:23 And we kind of base our defensive coverages
11:26 on those thoughts.
11:28 OK, right there from Poland.
11:31 Coach, Karol Szyba from Poland.
11:34 Question about your coaching staff yourself, Coach Spoh,
11:37 Coach Lew, one of the greatest coaches in the NBA right now.
11:40 Can you take us through the process?
11:42 How do you guys cooperate, coexist, and complement
11:45 each other during practices, games, huddles, and timeouts?
11:49 Yeah, I mean, these guys are amazing.
11:51 To coach with Mark Few and Spoh and Ty, all three of them
11:57 immediately said yes when I called them to ask them
12:00 if they wanted to be on the staff.
12:02 And it's pretty amazing for me to be able to lean on them
12:07 and to turn to one of them to run a drill
12:11 or to talk to the team or to decide on a scheme
12:15 or suggest a play.
12:17 These guys are all world-class coaches.
12:20 So I think part of the experience for me as a coach
12:24 is not only to coach these young, great players
12:29 like Austin and his teammates, but also
12:31 to coach with this staff.
12:34 And I think we all learn from each other.
12:36 And we all have a lot of fun together.
12:38 So it's a great vibe.
12:41 OK, listen, thank you very much for coming.
12:43 Thank you, guys.
12:45 That's it.
12:45 [Applause]