USA, Spain playing to win, but won’t give away secrets

BARCELONA, Spain – Maybe Spain can convince its home fans that the game doesn’t matter.

No way Kobe Bryant is buying it.

A game against the U.S. – the team that beat Spain for the Olympic basketball gold medal in 2008 – this time in front of their own crowd? The Spanish players are supposed to be OK with losing, because it’s only an exhibition?

"There’s not a chance," Bryant said. "It’s not just practice. It’s impossible."

Bryant might have come away with a different opinion if he’d listened to Spain’s players on the same Palau Sant Jordi floor about an hour earlier Monday. They are excited about today’s game and will try to win, but not at the expense of their preparations for London.

"It’s an exhibition game. I think both teams are going to try to (use) different lineups, going to try maybe different stuff, but at the end of the day you know you’re not going to show a lot of things to the other team," Spain guard Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors said. "You’re not going to have a medal if you win or if you lose tomorrow."

The U.S. held off Spain 118-107 in Beijing to win gold in what U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski called "one of the great games in international basketball history." The Americans pulled away after leading by just four with under 2½ minutes left to win their first major title since the 2000 Olympics and they are ranked No. 1 in the world.

Spain is No. 2, and nobody would be surprised to see them play a gold-medal rematch Aug. 12. That’s the one the Spanish are aiming for, they say, and won’t go all out for a victory today if it means giving away any secrets they would use when it counts.

"It’ll definitely be a great test," Spain star Pau Gasol said. "We believe in our chances, but it’s just a friendly game. Obviously we’d rather lose (this game) and win in London."

Bryant and Gasol are teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Gasol said he’s looking forward to meeting up after they haven’t seen each other since their season ended in Oklahoma City in the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Bryant said Gasol is like a little brother, and that big brothers don’t let little brothers win.

"He doesn’t like to lose against anyone, but I’d like to maybe let him win (here) and maybe beat him in London," Gasol said. "That’ll be ideal."

Bryant countered that there’s "no way Pau is thinking this is just another game." And if it’s another tight one like the Beijing battle as they head into the final minutes? "There’s no way Pau’s sitting down," Bryant said.

An NBA team would rarely have its top players on the floor in the final minutes of its preseason finale. And Spain, which has had to deal with injuries to Marc Gasol – whose left shoulder was wrapped in ice after practice – Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez on top of already losing Minnesota point guard Ricky Rubio, has plenty of reason to be cautious.

Yet Krzyzewski thinks the atmosphere surrounding today’s game will force Spain to play to win.

"I think tomorrow they’ll come after us pretty hard because we’re playing in Barcelona," he said. "A number of these guys have Barcelona ties, they either grew up here or they played here, and it’ll be an emotional night."