Argentina - Rockets' Scola ready for Olympics

From nationalpost.pa
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Luis Scola has reflected on a satisfactory rookie season in the NBA with the Houston Rockets but now has turned his focus towards defending the Olympic gold medal with Argentina.

The power forward averaged 10.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in his first season, which saw the Rockets eliminated by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs for the second straight campaign.

Scola also filled in nicely for injured center Yao Ming when Houston was forced into a smaller, quicker lineup.

"I think I have gained the respect of the team," Scola told www.ole.com.ar. "My teammates respect me, the coach (Rick Adelman) respects me. I think I can take that (from my first season experience). Trips and matches make things hard. It's a little bit frenetic, but I liked it."

The 28-year-old Scola believes the Rockets, who posted a 22-game winning streak at one point, had a positive campaign.

"The review, as a team, is good," he added. "We didn't start well, but nobody went crazy and we recovered the form by enjoying a good run of results. Then, we had some bad luck and got eliminated by Utah."

Scola, who is in Buenos Aires as Argentina continues its preparation for the Beijing Olympics, aims to help defend his home country's title at Athens four years ago. But he expects the United States to provide the strongest challenge.

"We'll try to do our best," he said. "I want to play the gold-medal match, no matter who the rivals are. The United States are the team we should avoid. They have always been the most dangerous and now they seem to have got used to FIBA (play).

"They are athletic, young players and they have recovered the will to play these tournaments. Spain are enjoying a good moment, but we'll see how they go in the Olympics."