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Saturday, August 26
Team USA begins practice amid lavish setting
Associated Press
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- After settling in comfortably at their
luxury hotel, the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team made it
through the first day of practice Saturday with only one minor
injury.
Vin Baker twisted his left ankle while landing awkwardly after
taking a shot, but he said the injury would probably not keep him
from practicing Sunday.
The U.S. team spent much its time working on half-court drills
and scrimmaging, both 3-on-3 and 5-on-5, under the direction of
coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
"The intensity was high and the conditioning was good," said
Tomjanovich, who plans to increase the pace of practices over the
next several days of training camp. "You can't go with the Marine
deal right away because you'll get a lot of injuries."
The American team will spend the next week in Hawaii, holding
training camp on the island of Maui and playing two exhibition
games, against Canada and the U.S. Select Team, in Honolulu.
Their practice court is at the Lahaina Civic Center, which does
not have air conditioning, although their accommodations are seven
miles up the road in Kapalua at one of the finest hotels on the
island. So ritzy is it, in fact, players have the option of
ordering three different kinds of butler-drawn baths complete with
milk whey powder, lavender bath oil and/or floating orchids. The
price: $50.
Lavish accommodations are standard fare for NBA players, but the
chance to play in the Olympics is not. And so it was with a
palpable sense of eagerness that the U.S. team went into its first
practice at the steamy gymnasium less than a mile up a hill from
the Pacific Ocean.
Tim Hardaway ended practice by sinking a shot from midcourt
barefooted.
"Well, it was hot," Jason Kidd said, "But we got some of the
garbage out of the exhaust pipes. It was a good practice."
And aside from Baker's little misstep, it was nothing like the
first practice the U.S. team held one year ago upon its arrival in
Puerto Rico for the Olympic qualifying tournament.
At that practice, which turned out to be the only one the team
ever held in Puerto Rico, Tom Gugliotta broke his nose and Richard
Hamilton sprained his ankle so severely that he never got to play
in the qualifying tourney.
"You kind of expect something like that to happen on Day One,
but you don't expect it to happen to you.," said Baker, who has
lost 15 pounds since the end of last season and now weighs in at
258.
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