If the most humiliating battle for the American Dream Team was chosen, it would definitely be the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The Sydney Olympic bronze medallist Argentina, led by the Pampas eagle Ginobili, chiseled the myth of undefeated Olympic Games since the formation of the Dream Team in '92.
With 5 seconds left in the game, the long-haired Scola received a pass from Ginobili and finally dunked the ball into the basket, which was completely shattered by the 16-year-long dream of the dream team.
Hey! Hello everyone! I'm a quarterback, and today I'm taking you into the most humiliating moment of the American Dream Team.
In 1989, FIBA made a landmark decision to "abolish the prohibition of professional players from participating in the Olympic Games." At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, the American Dream Team was officially established, and they swept the international basketball scene with an invincible attitude.
In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, in addition to the five members of the Dream First team, new faces such as Miller, O'Neal, Hill, Payton and other new faces were added, as well as Olajuwon who had just switched nationals, and they easily won the Olympic gold medal again with an average of 30 points per game.
Then came the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the dream team with players such as Kidd, Ray Allen and Garnett, and the most famous of the Olympics was Carter's death dunk against France, which is still regarded as the most violent dunk in basketball history, and the American dream team still won the gold medal with a total victory that year.
But at this moment, they are not as absolutely dominant as before. In the semi-finals, they narrowly defeated Lithuania by only two points, and even almost lost the opponent. France also won only 10 points in the final, which also sowed the seeds for the next Olympics defeat.
Fast forward to 2002, the tenth year of the founding of the American Dream Team, and the American team, which has always been unscrupulous, finally paid the price for its arrogance and underestimation of the enemy. What exactly happened that year? And what impact did this have on the later Dream Team?
Time to the 2002 Basketball World Championship, one day in September, Indiana, the World Championship is in full swing, although the United States sent a lineup full of NBA main players, but the overall player position is obviously not as good as before, and still in the game with Argentina, the opponent regrettably lost.
It was the first U.S. defeat on the international stage since the Dream Team was formed in '92. Since then, Team USA's epic 58-game winning streak has officially ended. In the end, at this year's World Championships, the United States only finished sixth.
If the World Championships were lost because the United States underestimated the enemy, their frustration did not end there, and greater difficulties awaited them later.
"I'll never go to the Olympics again!" After the American Dream Team lost to Argentina in 2004, Duncan said the following words, what happened to that dream team that year?
Fast forward to 2002, and due to the dismal record of sixth place in the World Championships, the United States team had to finish in the top three at the '03 American Championships to qualify for the Athens Olympics.
After suffering last year's fiasco, many NBA big stars have signed up this year, with two MVPs Iverson and Duncan leading the team, plus top scorers such as Carter, Maddie, Ray Allen, and guards such as Kidd and Bibi, this year, the United States team was humiliated and qualified for the Athens Olympics at the top of the US Championship.
Just as they were about to revive the prestige of the Dream Team, something happened that disrupted their steps again.
Dream Six is in full swing, but 100 days before the start of the Olympics, there were a series of explosions around Athens, and local police found a lot of explosives in the stadium. There are also terrorist groups that claim to launch attacks during the Olympics.
Such a series of things happened to cause a number of NBA stars to greatly reduce their willingness to participate due to safety issues, and the star-studded lineup fell apart in an instant.
Of the original 12-man Olympic squad, 10 people gave up competing for the national championship in the Olympics, and even Kobe, who originally agreed to join the team, chose to temporarily withdraw, and in the end, only Duncan and Iverson were willing to continue to play on the team.
In this case, the basketball association could only immediately look for a replacement, so a group of young NBA faces appeared on the Olympic roster, which now looks very luxurious.
There are future league supergiant banana boat brothers, but James, Anthony, Wade and others at that time were just rookies who entered the NBA for a year. They are inexperienced and do not have enough time to run in. This also led to the Dream Six team, which encountered obstacles before the Olympic Games.
First, he was defeated by Italy by 17 points in the warm-up game of training, and two days later he avoided losing to Germany, led by King Notian, thanks to a kill from Allen Iverson. And this situation continued into the main Olympic games.
In the first game of the group stage, the dream team was blasted by Puerto Rico, you know, Puerto Rico is just an island with a population of less than 4 million, but in this game, the dream team was defeated by the other side with a huge score difference of 92:73, 19 points, which is also the worst loss of the United States in the international arena.
This match was not only the first Olympic defeat of the American Dream Team, but also let the world see that the original American team was not invincible in the Olympics. In the next two games, the United States narrowly beat Australia and Greece, but only won by 6 and 10 points.
The confident and elegant dream team of the past is long gone, and now they are afraid of losing, afraid of accusations, and sure enough, in the fourth game of the group stage, they lost to Lithuania again. At the moment, the Dream Team is fourth in the group with a 2-2 record.
Facing Spain in the quarterfinals, Marbury scored 31 points to lead the United States to the semifinals. Trying to keep America's gold medal hopes alive, but the nightmare of two years ago has come again.
This is definitely the most humiliating Olympics for the American team! Ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics, Australian defender Briery said excitedly, "Am I dreaming? I'm competing with my idols! ”
However, at the Olympic medal ceremony, Bradley stood in the runner-up position, looking down on his idol.
In the semi-finals, the United States once again met the Blue and White, who gave them their first international defeat. Since the 02 World Championships, the American famous Walshin has said, "This American team lacks systematic training, they have no soul, no vision, and the team is full of contempt and arrogance, which also makes them finally defeated invisibly!" ”
At this time, their opponent Argentina is a group of teams that have worked together since childhood, they have excellent team understanding and chemistry, and their tactical movement is also very good, with only a gesture and a look, they know what to do with each other.
At the same time, they also have a number of NBA players in the team, plus Ginobili, who ran to the United States to win the championship again after winning three championships in Europe. This year, Argentina has a lineup that is not weaker than the United States, relying on smooth internal and external conduction, and tight defense frequently play fast attack counterattacks.
Coupled with Manu's repeated tearing through the U.S. defense, Argentina shot from the outside with more than 50% shooting. Stay ahead of the game. The final victory was 89:81, defeating the gold medal dream of the American team.
Since basketball became an official Olympic sport in 1936, the U.S. team has seen gold medals in their pockets, losing only two games with a 111-2 record, a saga that came to an abrupt end in 2004. They lost three games at the Olympics alone, ending in bronze.
This year's dream team is regarded as a disgrace, if losing one may be an accident, but losing three, it means that the strength is really not good. The Olympics became the most reluctant page in the history of the U.S. men's basketball team.
From the experience of this failure, people see the possibility of defeating the American team, people are no longer afraid to play against the American team and NBA players, and the American team's style of playing by cutting into the box by singles is not applicable to the rules of international basketball.
After the game, coaches around the world summed up the performance of the U.S. team, "Each of them is the best in the world, but when combined they greatly weaken their individual abilities." After a year of losses, the NFA decided to change their short-term team approach.
From selecting some star players for simple training, it has become a team formation in the form of over-selection long-term training camps, while instilling in the players the concept that international competitions are not all-stars. So as to form a sound national team system and develop players tacit understanding.
Although they still held the third place in the 06 World Championships, the successive losses in the past few years gave birth to the redemption team of the 08 Beijing Olympics - the American Dream Eight Team!
And what kind of story is this revenge journey that brings together the supergiants of the alliance at that time? We'll talk about that next time.
Well, this is the end of this video, I'm a quarterback, follow me, continue to bring you more basketball stories, we'll see you in the next issue.