LONDON — Mike Krzyzewski experienced his 2012 Olympic highlight during a postgame, post-midnight press conference.
Following Team USA’s 47-point victory over Tunisia, a Polish journalist began to ask a question but was interrupted after uttering the coach’s last name.
“You’re the first person to ever pronounce my name right,” Krzyzewski said, beaming.
The U.S. men’s basketball coach invited the Polish journalist to take a picture with him on the podium after the press conference. It was the perfect, light Olympic moment.
Moments before, Krzyzewski, whose parents were born in Poland and who grew up in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago, did his own version of the polka, dancing around his star-studded benching Tuesday vs. Tunisia. Krzyzewski started his bench brigade in the second half as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and center Tyson Chandler sat.
Krzyzewski had also pulled his five starters en mass late in the first quarter with Tunisia — the only Olympic team without an NBA player — leading by three points, 15-12. However, Carmelo Anthony and the reserves ripped off a 14-0 run and earned the second-half start, when they proceeded to blow Tunisia back to North Africa.
Krzyzewski claimed it was all preordained and he was “not angry’’ despite storming off the court at halftime.
“My goal tonight was to try to get kind of an equal number of minutes for everybody in the game and to try some different combinations, so there was really nothing meant by subbing five at a time except to get five new guys in and get a certain amount of minutes for each of them,’’ Krzyzewski said. “Those guys got extended minutes. So that was the only significance of any unit substitutions that I did.”
Krzyzewski sent his message on the court. He wasn’t going to do it again through the media. This job of coaching the NBA’s glitterati is as much about massaging egos as X’s and O’s. Larry Brown failed miserably at it during the 2004 bronze debacle, benching players with no explanations. It’s why Krzyzewski will be greatly missed if he decides not to return in 2016. Nobody does it better than the former West Point coach.
“You never know who might help you win a gold medal,’’ he said, pointing out that reserve Tayshawn Prince, because of foul trouble, played a key role in the 2008 gold-medal game vs. Spain. “If you don’t give them that length of experience, they may not be ready for those minutes.’’
The world’s eyes will be on Krzyzewski’s rotation today at 5:15 p.m. when the U.S. takes its 2-0 record against Nigeria, a tiny upgrade over Tunisia on paper. Seven players played Division I basketball and one NBA player, the Hornets’ Al-Farouq Aminu, is on the roster.