U.S. men's basketball expect hard battle for gold, says coach

MACAU (Reuters) - The growth in international talent means the U.S. men's basketball team face a "tough challenge" to win Olympic gold, head coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Monday.

美国男篮主教练 米克.K周一称：不断涌现的国际天才意味着美国男子篮球队要想取得奥运会金牌面临着“艰苦的挑战”。

"Basketball around the world has exploded. Thirty percent of the NBA are international players, and many of the teams we face ... will have a starting five of five NBA players," Krzyzewski said in Macau, where the gold medal favorites will play exhibition games against Lithuania and Turkey before traveling to Beijing.

“篮球运动在全球范围内开展，30%的NBA球员是国际球员，很多球队要面对……必须从5名5名的NBA球员开始打。”K教练在澳门说，在开赴北京之前他们将在澳门展开和夺冠热门立陶宛、土耳其举行热身对抗赛。

"It will be a tough challenge for us."

这对于我们来说是个艰巨的挑战。

The U.S. have won 12 Olympic men's titles but their supremacy has slipped in recent years.

美国男篮曾经夺得过12次奥运会冠军但近些年的霸主地位不断下滑。

Spain won men's gold at the 2006 world championships behind inspired Los Angeles Lakers player Pau Gasol, who will be key to Spanish ambitions in China. Argentina, who took gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, will also be a serious threat to American hopes of redemption.

效力于洛杉矶湖人队的加索尔带领西班牙赢得2006年世锦赛冠军，是中国的强劲对手。2004年雅典奥运会冠军阿根廷队同样是美国队夺冠道路上难以对付的对手。

Team U.S.A. finished with bronze four years ago and were third at the 2006 worlds.

4年前美国队获得银牌，2006年世锦赛获得第三名。

Previous U.S. teams have been all-star squads tossed together just weeks before the Games and Jerry Colangelo, managing director of the U.S. team, said "that was good enough, but that's not the case anymore."

由全明星组成的美国梦之队仅仅一个礼拜，球队董事表示：已经够好的了，现在不去考虑其他的。

The players "wanted to see this thing turned around because there is pride in representing our country and the commitment that was made three years ago means that the core players have been together for the past three years, and that's a big difference," he said。

NBA top scorer LeBron James, who was wearing a U.S.A. basketball shirt printed with the words "Together we rise", said confidence would be the key.

"Every time we step onto the court we know we have the talent and we know we have the strength to go out and be the best team out on the court. So, we have to be confident to go out there and play the way we want to play," he said.

Krzyzewski later clarified that "we're trying to be very confident. That doesn't mean over-confident.

"We don't have anything to be complacent about."

James will play in Beijing, despite an earlier right ankle injury that he described as "healthy".

Basketball is extremely popular in China and will be one of the hottest tickets at the Beijing Games.

The host team have been given a huge boost by the return of towering Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming after he broke a foot in an NBA game in February.

Krzyzewski said China merited respect.

"I would think that they'd be better than they were the last time we played them. They will be a foe -- especially (since) they are our first game in the Olympics."

The U.S. and Chinese teams meet on August 10