Staying Focused in Turkey
What’s good everybody? I know I haven’t blogged in a while, but we’ve been pretty busy ever since we left New York City for overseas. If you’ve been following Team USA then you know we’ve been to Spain, Greece and now Istanbul, Turkey for the FIBA World Championship.
Obviously, it’s a little different out here but it’s been a great experience for me. It’s been fun hanging around with these great players. We’ve just really been hanging around each other so I don’t have any good lost-in-translation stories.
The fans here treat us the same though as the ones back in the States and like I said we really haven’t gone out too much to tell you the truth.
But the other day I did have a chance to go to a basketball court dedication in a town called Atasehir, which is in Istanbul. It was technically in Asia, so we actually crossed continents in about a half hour. It was cool, seeing a court dedicated in my name on the other side of the world. I’ll never forget that. After that we went to the Nike “Meydan†store in Istanbul, which really was about the same as any other Nike store back home.
As far as basketball goes, I’m just trying to be a little bit more focused, more locked in. That’s the difference. That’s why I haven’t been Tweeting or anything like that. I’m just trying to take a different approach because we’re out here on business. I do have my mother out here with me so that’s been nice. Other than that, I keep in touch with friends and family every so often.
The international crowds are a bit different out here, too. The arenas are smaller and it’s very loud in there but it’s pretty cool to play in. As the weeks have gone by I’ve started to get acquainted to the FIBA style of play and the officiating.
The knockout stage begins for us on Monday, so I’m very excited for that. It should be a lot of fun and a great challenge for us. Our practices have been really intense and focused. We’re just ready to play.
Make sure you keep up with Team USA during this final week of play. We’re aiming for the gold medal! I’ll probably talk to you guys after the tournament is done. In the meantime, hit me up in my comments section. Anyone been to Istanbul before?
Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.
Tags: 2010 FIBA World Championship, 2010 FIBA World Championships, FIBA, Istanbul, Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant Blog, Nike Basketball, Summer 2010, Turkey
