Posted on 08/15/2004 12:50:40 PM PDT by wagglebee
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - In an upset as historic as it was inevitable, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and the rest of the U.S. basketball team lost 92-73 to Puerto Rico on Sunday, only the third Olympic defeat ever for the Americans.
It was also the most lopsided loss in the games for the U.S. team, alarming not only for its significance but also for its decisiveness.
Puerto Rico, which had lost to the Americans five times in the past 13 months, took control in the first half, led by 22 at halftime and gamely held off a fourth-quarter comeback for one of the biggest sports achievements in the island territory's history.
The loss was a blow to the Americans' confidence, but it did little to hurt their gold medal chances. They need only to finish in the top four of their six-team group to reach the quarterfinals.
Still, the defeat will go a long way toward giving the competition the bold idea that it's someone else's turn to move to the top of a sport that's been dominated by one country for nearly three-quarters of a century.
As Carlos Arroyo left the court with just over a minute left, he defiantly pulled at the words "Puerto Rico" on his jersey. He led his team with 24 points.
Anyone in America who didn't see this coming hadn't been paying attention to the way international basketball has been changing. The U.S. nearly lost in the semifinals at Sydney on a last-second miss by Lithuania, then dropped three games on its home turf at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis - the first losses ever by a U.S. team of NBA professionals.
This year's team, weakened by the defections and rejections of 12 top players, opened its pre-Olympic tour of Europe with a 17-point loss to Italy and a last-second victory over Germany - a pair of games in which their vulnerability to a tight zone defense was clearly exposed.
Puerto Rico used that defensive strategy, too, and the Americans could do next to nothing against it.
After Lamar Odom made their first 3-pointer, the Americans missed 16 straight. They tried to get the ball inside, but Puerto Rico collapsed several defenders into the paint and took the U.S. team's best player, Duncan, out of the offensive equation.
American teams had been 24-0 since the professional Olympic era began with the 1992 Dream Team, but now there is a blemish on their record to go with their two losses to the Soviet Union in the 1972 gold medal game and the 1988 semifinals.
They handled the loss to Puerto Rico with grace, congratulating their opponents and joining them in a huddle at center court before both teams exited to a standing ovation.
The U.S Olympic team's record now stands at 109-3.
Yep. Get used to the court in its entirety and you'll have more three pointers.
It's a good analysis. I'm surprised that after the 88 loss, it wasn't completely obvious to USA BB that 3 pointers are the key to this international game...they've made the same mistake, twice. Shame on them.
They should've brought Steve Kerr out of retirement.
My thoughts exactly. Perhaps the IOC allows PR to man a team to be cuturally sensative.
when Duncan is your best "shooter" you know you're screwed.
further proof the NBA has become just a rap video clip
of dunks and short on fundamentals.
Well let's be fair, they are also good at fathering children out of marriage, making big scary faces when they succeed to make a dunk and have shown this Olympics that their desire to prepare for success is zilch.
Thank you! Thank you!
I have never liked having pros playing in the Olympic games. And you're right about the Miracle on Ice Team. The reason they were so amazing, and the victory so amazing, was because the Soviet team was a "pro" team. They were a bunch of army officers who were stationed together and did nothing but hockey. For a bunch of young kids from various states and schools to be able to get together and beat these guys was amazing. And, THAT is why we still talk about it.
I cannot think of anything more boring than watching a bunch of overpaid pro players beat the tar out of some small country that has no chance at all.
My other gripe is that I feel that the pros are taking away a wonderful experience from some college player. What do these guys need with a gold medal. They can toss it in with the rest of the "awards" they have been given. But a college player, who is a good player, may not have what it takes to get into the NBA. The Olympics may be his shot at something special and for a bunch of multi-millionaires to take that away is, to me, disgusting.
I was happy that Puerto Rico beat these guys. And Italy,too, if I'm not mistaken.
Related facts are not the result of a syllogism.
FYI..little known factoid..the US men's BB team silver medals, from the rigged loss to the USSR, have never been claimed..they sit in a vault in the IOC HQ in Switzerland..
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Don't get me started on that. I still get pi$$ed off when I think back on that game!
I wonder if the $1,299 signed lebron james olympic jersey on home shopping is worth it...
I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or asking a serious question. But I don't know the answer. All I was asking was what were the benefits of having them in the US. But yes, if Guam, American Samoa, and all the other territories wanted to be independent, I'd say let them be. I don't know the upside of maintaining control over them.
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