Even though Team USA fell short of their goal of winning the FIBA World Championship - and now have to play next summer to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing - the small forward has cherished his time with his 11 team-mates and looks forward to playing with them again.

Individually, Anthony had a great tournament, finishing with averages of 19.9 points - sixth in the tournament - 3.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game while shooting close to 55 per cent from the field as Team USA finished with an 8-1 record.

FIBA correspondent Simon Wilkinson caught up with Anthony after the bronze medal game.

FIBA: Can you run us through what you were thinking over the last few days after the loss to Greece and going into the bronze medal game against Argentina?

Anthony: Friday's loss gave us a lot of motivation to go out and do our best to win against Argentina. We knew we couldn't lose two games in the tournament. This was a must-win game and we did what we had to do.

FIBA: Was it hard to find some motivation to play the bronze medal game after the disappointment of the loss to Greece?

Anthony: No not at all. I think a lot of fans wanted to see Team USA play against Argentina. Unfortunately it wasn't in the final. But we'll take the win all the same.

FIBA: How would you describe the team¡¯s mood in the bronze medal game?

Anthony: It was a gut-check game. A lot of people thought we would fold after losing to Greece on Friday but we didn't. I take my hat off to all my team-mates for coming out here and competing, especially LeBron James.

FIBA: What is the biggest lesson you learned in this tournament?

Anthony: That you can't take a night off - even though we didn't. You know Greece came out and played really hard from start to finish and it kind of shocked us. We didn't think they were going to play that hard and they won the game.

FIBA: You now have to play next summer. Is that something that you were trying to avoid?

Anthony: I guess so. Coming into this tournament we wanted to win so that we wouldn't have to play in a competition next summer because we¡¯d automatically qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way so we have to get ready for next summer.

FIBA: What do you say to those who question the team's chemistry?

Anthony: There's always something that people want to question, but please don't question our chemistry. We did a great job of putting this team together. We came a very long way from the first day in Las Vegas to now. I think we got better in that time and we will keep getting better still.

FIBA: Did you all get along off the court and do you look forward to playing together again?

Anthony: We really did and I think for me that's the main difference with the experience of 2004. It's great to know that I'll get to hang with LeBron again, and Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul next year. Hopefully we can keep this group of guys together and move forward.