USA NOTES
SAN JUAN – The United States has played three times against Puerto Rico. And about a zillion times against themselves.
The U.S. Olympic qualifying team is ready to get this process started. Now they need only to wait until 10 o’clock tonight when they play Brazil here.
Yup, they’re ready.
“Their name is Brazil, that’s all I can tell you,” Tracy McGrady said.
Well, as ready as they’re going to be.
“Brazil is very good,” Jason Kidd said. “Their point guard [Leandrinho Barbosa] was drafted, one of their players plays in Denver [Nene Hilario]. Every team has NBA experience now, so nobody is scared of the United States because they play against us all the time.”
* Nick Collison, who has played on USA Basketball teams for six straight summers, aggravated his sprained right shoulder but said he will be available.
“They said it was a subluxation. The joint stretched a little too far,” Collison said. “I hurt it a little in the Puerto Rico scrimmage [Sunday] and I think it was just weak, and so I was a little more vulnerable. I should be OK to play.”
* Larry Brown on the 10 p.m. game time, with a subtle message to Allen Iverson thrown in: “It’ll be great for Allen,” Brown deadpanned. “We play so many games at different times, different times zones, so it’s no issue. Last time we played 10 games in 11 nights, that’s why we have to be a team. We’re going to count on everybody we need to have depth and we need to understand what out responsibility is. We can’t be out messing around. We’ve got games back-to-back. This has got to be a priority for us.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Brown’s assistant, on Kenyon Martin coming here on his honeymoon: “With two big guys gone, having him here is a huge bonus. Anybody who can be on his honeymoon and say, ‘We just changed. Our honeymoon is in Puerto Rico,’ you’ve got to love that guy.”