BEIJING — I had to hand it to Mike Krzyzewski for the unexpected gesture he made on Saturday afternoon.
We were at Beijing Normal University for the Americans' final practice prior to today's gold-medal game against Spain. And by we, I mean the press corps that has followed the USA men's basketball team throughout the Beijing Olympics.
We were upstairs above the floor watching the final minutes of warmup of that final practice and had just been asked to leave, because they were closing practice, when Krzyzewski turned to the balcony and shouted up his thanks as the rest of the team clapped and cheered for us.
It was kind of a warm and fuzzy moment, tinged with something, but I still appreciated it. Enough so that I even managed to get a photo of it.
Krzyzewski's on the far left, Jason Kidd is in the middle, New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni is smiling next to him, and Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski is in the yellow practice jersey getting ready to break Kidd down off the dribble on the far right. In the foreground next to Krzyzewski on the left, that's Portland TrailBlazers coach, and former N.C. State player, Nate McMillan.
