Adjusting to international game has been biggest challenge
(The Philadelphia 76ers' Andre Igudala is keeping an exclusive diary for the Philadelphia Daily News at the World Championships with Team USA. The first entry comes from Sunday night's exhibition win over Spain in Madrid.)
The Philadelphia 76ers' Andre Iguodala is keeping an exclusive diary for the Philadelphia Daily News at the World Championships with Team USA. The first entry comes from Sunday night's exhibition win over Spain in Madrid:
It was a good win. The team is a work in progress. Guys are sacrificing for one another. But it's good to be a part of that. We are all trying to be unselfish, working on all parts of our game. The tough thing about playing against international teams is that they've been playing together for years and we've just been together for about 4 months. It's a lot different. They can play a little more physical, there's more fouls. We just have to adjust to certain things, wait for some calls and appreciate the way they play. That's the main thing.
Even though our win against Lithuania [77-61] and [last night] against Spain [86-85] were close wins, I don't think the way they play gives us trouble. The court is smaller, and they play physical with us. The fouls we normally get in the NBA, we don't get over here. That's where we have to prove that we are better. We're playing their game. With the trapezoid, they can pack their defense in the lane. There's no defensive 3 seconds. Again, they've been playing like this for years, and we don't. We kind of have to revert back to college a little bit and play that style. We want to prove that no matter how they play, we can handle it and win.
[Last] night we played great. Derrick Rose was clutch, Kevin Durant played tremendous on both ends. We need to work on communicating a little bit better, but that takes time. For me, defensively, I feel I'm where I need to be; offensively, I need to find my spots. There's so many great guys on this team that you have a tendency to stand around and watch at times. We just have to play our game and not rush too many things.
This whole experience has been a lot of fun. It gives me a chance to be away and have fun and relax while I'm playing ball. I have a lot of free time, so I've been doing a lot of reading. This has been a great experience. It gives us all a chance to showcase our talents with a great coach [Mike Krzyzewski] and have fun with each other.
