MADRID — As Kyrie Irving waited to walk outside the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad doors late Sunday night, hordes of screaming fans and a rumbling bus both demanding his presence, he was well aware of what lie ahead.
LeBron James, for one, and all the welcome expectations that will come with being such a big part of the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers team in the next NBA season. But the 22-year-old who had deemed this his most meaningful moment had only two things on his mind: the FIBA World Cup gold medal that Team USA won in such dominating fashion against Serbia (129-92) and his gone-but-not-forgotten friend, the Indiana Pacers' Paul George.
Six weeks before, Irving had sat with his father's arm around his shoulders courtside at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center, tears in his eyes, after George broke his leg in gruesome fashion. From the lowest of lows to this high that included his tournament MVP honors, Irving took it all in.
"(George) has a lot to do with (the meaning of the gold)," Irving, who scored 26 points (7-for-7 from three-point range), told USA TODAY Sports. "This whole trip was mainly for Paul. Every single day, not taking anything for granted. It's a devastating thing that happened to one of my good friends. It's crazy, but for us to bring a gold medal back — and knowing he's going to get one — is exciting."
No one wanted their story to go this way, but the end result was exactly the kind of thing that makes Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski smile. He's constantly preaching about togetherness, about looking each other in the eye and forming the real brotherhood that would make the experience memorable even if they happened to lose.
Rest assured, Krzyzewski had already called George to tell him his gold medal was on the way, even before taking part in the postgame news conference.
The seemingly-endless absences were a part of this Team USA tournament, to be sure, with Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and the rest deciding not to take part. But that Aug. 1 night with George brought this group together in ways that helped them until the end.
"It took us to another level relationship-wise," said Irving, who played for Krzyzewski at Duke for a year. "Nobody's invincible, but one thing we can do is come together as a team and we did a great job of that. Every single day, for however many coach said it was, 50 days or something like that. I've gotten to know all these guys and this is something I'm going to remember the rest of my life."
Jerry Colangelo won't forget this anytime soon, either. Despite so many obstacles and unexpected setbacks, the program he came on board to rehabilitate in 2006 has now won gold medals in four consecutive international tournaments, the latest coming in overwhelmingly one-sided fashion (average margin of victory was 33 points). The reward, technically speaking, is an automatic qualification into the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics that allows Team USA to avoid playing the FIBA Americas tournament next summer.
"It's satisfying," Colangelo told USA TODAY Sports. "Everything passes by in your mind, over the last decade, the nine years. To win the back-to-back-to-back championships is a testament to where we are with USA Basketball in the country. For that, I couldn't be more proud.
"No one knew exactly what we were headed for, and then the Paul George incident and then ... Durant pulling out and Kevin (Love) because of a contract, etc. We didn't know what to expect. It's been great."
The foundation of this team's on-court performance may be defense, and Krzyzewski is always quick to remind anyone who forgets as much. But in terms of the entire program, Colangelo and Krzyzewski have been successful in ensuring that the same sort of patriotism that often fuels their global competitors is a major part of everything they do.
It's a subplot to this gold that simply can't be forgotten.
As the team's players and coaches celebrated in a behind-the-scenes hallway afterward, players posing for pictures with one another and sharing hugs and handshakes all around, one staff member who preferred to remain nameless told the story of his first interaction with Krzyzewski as proof. The two men had never met before, and the longtime Duke legend's first words to the new team member he had hired were, "Thank you."
Krzyzewski, the West Point product who took his team to his old stomping grounds last month to motivate them in the most meaningful of ways, views all of their work as a service to their country and makes that clear to them all at every turn. As Irving had discussed at length in the news conference, all of it adds to the brotherhood that felt so real afterward.
The pride they all shared could be seen in the minutes following the game, as well. As DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan, Kenneth Faried and all the rest waited to accept their medals, they hollered at the few Americans in the stands so as to enjoy it all with their countrymen and women.
It wasn't how they'd planned it, but they're coming home with the gold. Again.
