2004 Athens Olympics: USA's worst basketball nightmare

Since the Dream Team re-affirmed its dominance in the 1992 Olympics, the United States basketball program was viewed as the gold standard. However, just 12 years later, the country was left searching for answers, as an embarrassing result in the 2004 Olympics prompted a monumental level of shock in the basketball world.

It’s not just that United States basketball had won the gold medal in 1992, and 1996 and 2000. It’s the relative ease with which success came. In those Olympic tilts, the U.S. won 24 games by an average of 32 points. While things got a little tighter in 2000, there didn’t seem to be a serious threat to the Americans’ supremacy.

There didn’t seem to be much cause for concern heading into the 2004 Olympics, either. Young future NBA Hall of Famers like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were supposed to anchor the next generation. Established stars like Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson were also on hand to provide experienced leadership in big games.

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The United States perhaps expected a competitive game from Lithuania and France, considering both countries kept it close in the 2000 Olympics. However, right from the get-go, the United States veil of supremacy was punctured. They were blown out in the first game by Puerto Rico, 92-73.

FIBA’s website wrote that Puerto Rico “turned international basketball on its head” that day. The Guardian wrote about the United States’ “collapse in a nightmare performance.” Carmelo Anthony told Basketball Network about that game, “because I’m not playing, I’m hearing, I’m seeing this slow death…and the game just starts opening up.”

Less than a week later, the United States fell to Lithuania by a final score of 94-90. While the Puerto Rico loss could initially be chalked up as a fluke, the second defeat revealed legitimate issues with the way the United States had come into the Olympics. Basketball Network recalled the difficult time the Americans had stopping Sarunas Jasikevicius that night.

United States head coach Larry Brown told ESPN after the Lithuania game, “we kind of had a meltdown in the fourth quarter. Despite the two losses, forward Carlos Boozer told ESPN, “We’re better than this. I totally believe we’re getting better and we should have won this game.”

While the United States would go on to trounce Angola and claim victory against Spain, they would be handed yet another defeat in the medal round, this time at the hands of Argentina. Led by Manu Ginobili, the Argentinians seemed to run circles around a United States team that didn’t have the same level of chemistry.

The San Antonio Spurs legend would give his take about what happened that evening to Sporting News. “In 1992, the USA has the best players ever. Here (in 2004) they are great players too, but they are young and they never played internationally, so with different rules it’s a whole different thing. The rest of the world is getting better, the States isn’t bringing their best players.”

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The United States did beat Lithuania to claim the bronze medal, but the fact that the team fell short of winning gold left a bad taste. ESPN later called those Olympics “the bronze that broke USA basketball.” They said that the team was flawed and hastily assembled, as Wade, James and Anthony agreed to be on the team late in the process.

Not that it made USA basketball fans feel any better, but some of the best players in the NBA elected not to participate in 2004 because of a deep playoff run. Los Angeles Lakers stars Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant weren’t available as they made the NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. Detroit center Ben Wallace also didn’t suit up for the Olympics.

LeBron James would tell ESPN that “we didn’t have the discipline, and we didn’t have the structure to be able to play on a world stage… I think that’s part of why we finished third.”

Larry Brown aired his grievances with the entire process to ESPN after the calamity ended. “We didn’t get any practice time. They kind of picked the team at random and it’s totally unfair,” he said.

Since the disorganized approach led to a less-than-stellar result for the United States, they decided to take the process leading up to the Olympics a lot more seriously. Jerry Colangelo was hired as the director of USA Basketball in 2005. According to USA Basketball’s website, NBA commissioner David Stern asked Colangelo to step in and provide a blueprint.

Colangelo told Stern he wanted full autonomy to pick players and coaches, and did not want to be limited by budgetary constraints. The former NBA commissioner agreed, and the groundwork was laid for a bounce back. Colangelo hired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to the same post at USA basketball to help establish camaraderie and consistency.

Since the embarrassing 2004 performance, the United States men’s basketball team has won the gold medal in every Olympics since. They’re hoping to keep that streak alive in 2024, and not relive the circumstances that befell them 20 years earlier.

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