1996 dream team

Rallying a team of NBA legends and all-stars that knew no conference lines, no divisions, and would come together for two months wearing the same jersey, representing their country, and one common objective: to bring the gold medal back to the United States. With the Dream Team, national teams from around the world competed, lost by 40, and took photos with the legendary squad of basketball greats before, and after the game.

But they would also learn valuable lessons on the court that would shape the game into what it is today. While future iterations of the Dream Team would only alienate these same basketball fans. But Petrovic was spot-on with his estimate. And the US would also be defeated by the former-Yugoslavia and Spain in that same tournament. During the Sydney Olympics, Lithuania lost to the United States in the semi-finals, and Lithuania had a chance to win the game, but their gutsy point guard, Sarunas Jasikevicius missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

As we know now, three of those teams Puerto Rico, Spain, and Argentina have since defeated the United States in international tournaments. While Croatia has had a tough time rebuilding, International teams are generally cyclical, and their golden years were in those early s. Since , when the Dream Team had an average margin of victory of 45 points, the margin has since dropped throughout the years.

In it fell to In , the USA would lose three times.

Dream team 3

You look over at these guys, Croatians, Lithuanian s? The rest of the world is now giving our best NBA guys a run for their money. Six losses in the last three international tournaments is not a fluke, and in part, we have the Dream Team to thank for that.