[ad_1]
The U.S. team also still had Tim Duncan to play center, but Duncan frequently struggled in international play, thinking he got a quick whistle from referees that hindered his effectiveness. Without Shaq, the NBA’s most dominant player, in the middle of its lineup, the U.S. team was much more perimeter-oriented.
And it was a very, very young team, and Brown often struggled to find chemistry and common ground with his younger players. It got so bad, Marbury told SLAM Magazine, that Brown wanted to send Marbury home late in the tournament.
Marbury claimed that the U.S. coaching staff offered to cover for him by saying he had injured his knee. Marbury refused. “The worst 38 days of my life,” Marbury would say later.
The young guys struggled to make shots — the U.S. team was last in 3-pointers made per game in the Olympics, and next to last in 3-point percentage. The problem showed up immediately, when the U.S. team was stunned by Puerto Rico in its group opener, 92-73, still the largest U.S. men’s loss in Olympic history.
The Americans were down 22 at the half, after scoring just seven points in the second quarter, and got throttled by Puerto Rico guard Carlos Arroyo, a good but hardly great NBA player, who dropped 24 on them. The Americans were 3 of 24 on 3s.
The U.S. men then barely beat Greece and Australia before losing for a second time in group play, falling to Lithuania, 94-90.
Another NBA journeyman, Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, smoked the Americans, scoring 28. The U.S. men snuck into the quarterfinals, and after they beat Spain, 102-94, with Marbury going for 31 points, they looked like they’d righted the ship.
The Americans would meet the up-and-coming Argentina team in the Olympic semis, a team that had come together over the past four years to become one of the strongest in the world. Led by Manu Ginobili, and featuring multiple NBA players, El Alma, as the Argentine team was known, had no fear of the Americans.
“We played New Zealand (in the final game of group play), and New Zealand was doing well,” Ginobili said, two decades later. “And we were superior. It was a point where we thought that the goal of getting a medal was probably going to happen. We just had to be ready.
“Don’t take anything for granted; just keep fighting. By the time we played the States, we said ‘okay, let’s go for it.’”
[ad_2]
Source link
Fitnessnacks – #United #States #France #live #updates #USA #leads #hosts #Paris #Olympics #basketball #gold #medal #game
Courtesy : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/united-states-france-paris-olympics-2024-mens-basketball-final-score-result/YeRS1nchFXGK/