Carter (and Baker and Houston) squeaked out a two-point win against Lithuania in the semifinals. The 2000 Olympics are remembered for Vince Carter throwing down the greatest dunk of all time, but that spectacular moment just allowed us to forget a team on which Vin Baker and Allan Houston tied for fifth in scoring. Four years after that came squads for which superstar attendance lagged and Team USA genuinely struggled en route to gold medals. The 1996 team still coasted, but the 2012 team nearly lost to Spain in the gold-medal match. Four years after the wins of 19, slightly fewer superstars showed up. Both romped to gold medals as the game’s biggest stars put the stars and stripes back on top of the podium.Īnd then comes a steady waning of interest, generally disregarded because the wins keep coming. In response to the 2004 loss, America put forth a similarly great squad at the Beijing Games, the Redeem Team. Next, there is a sudden uptick in interest from superstars: After the 1988 Games, international rules changed, allowing NBA players to participate in the Olympics, and in 1992, the United States put forth the Dream Team, the greatest assemblage of basketball talent in the sport’s history. All rights reserved.Can Damian Lillard Be Team USA’s Captain America? In a League of Dynamic Duos, LeBron and Anthony Davis Could Reign Supreme Can Team USA Field a Team of Randos and Still Win 3x3 Basketball Gold at the Olympics? Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information / Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ^ Back to Top ^ © 2023 ESPN Internet Ventures. The win is also particularly significant for the Milwaukee Bucks' Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, who join Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the only players to win an NBA title and Olympic gold in the same year.ĮSPN Stats and Information contributed to this story. The only other players to win three medals overall for Team USA are David Robinson and LeBron James. With the win, Kevin Durant joins Carmelo Anthony as the only players to win three Olympic gold medals for the U.S. Evan Fournier of the New York Knicks also led the team in scoring. The only other team to win the gold medal after losing its opener in the Olympics was the Soviet Union in 1988.įrance's squad was full of NBA stars, including three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and Nicolas Batum, who was responsible for a game-saving block that lifted France over Luka Doncic and Slovenia, 90-89, and into the gold medal match. a shocking 83-76 loss in the opening game of pool play that snapped a 25-game Olympic winning streak dating back to the 2004 Games. Team USA had quite a shaky start in its quest for gold. (Team USA won seven straight gold medals from 1936-68.) The United States men's basketball team has clinched its fourth straight gold medal in the Olympic Games with a 87-82 win over France, marking the second-longest streak in the event's history. Olympics 2021 - LeBron James, Bradley Beal and more weighed in as Team USA secured its fourth straight men's basketball gold medal You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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