# U.S. Men's Basketball gets ass handed to them by Puerto Rico. How cool is that? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976 "2004-08-15T19:11:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/81 "2004-08-27T19:38:31Z")
Back to the topic… **U.S. Men’s Basketball gets ass handed to them by ARGENTINA. How cool is that?** ---
**Author:** ![Eman\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Eman\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eman_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/82 "2004-08-27T19:47:31Z")
Though saddened by the loss, I’m glad that the rest of the world has caught up. Hopefully this will lead to more competitive games in the future, and that the Selection Committee can get TEAM players. Plus, next time maybe some players won’t say no if they’re asked? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/83 "2004-08-27T19:49:57Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > Back to the topic… > **U.S. Men’s Basketball gets ass handed to them by ARGENTINA. How cool is that?** Don’t cry for me, Argentina… I wonder how Friday night will be aboard that luxury liner? Wake up tomorrow for some bronze bling-bling… Lebronze James… ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/84 "2004-08-27T19:57:30Z")
Bwhahahahahaha… losers… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/85 "2004-08-27T20:09:17Z")
I wonder if this will change the selection process, or the acceptance level among top players, next time around. Do you think it’s likely that we’ll see a 1992-style Dream Team, with the absolute best players in the league representing the US? Or do you think they might try the team route, and maybe send the NBA champion team, or even the college champs? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/86 "2004-08-27T20:26:51Z")
I don’t think we’ll ever see a Dream Team with the absolute best players ever again. As for the next composition? It’ll be whichever Stern thinks will make him the most money. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/87 "2004-08-27T21:54:53Z")
If you sent the NCAA champion to play in the Olympics, it would get its ass handed to them. The NCAA champs would have a hard time beating Angola I think. The best player on the NCAA champs, Okafor, was on the Olympic team, and he rarely played. The problem with sending the NBA champs is that most teams aren’t made up entirely of American players. What do you if San Antonio wins? Or Sacramento? Or Detroit? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/88 "2004-08-27T21:56:58Z")
Saturday: USA, Lithuania This time it’s for bronze! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/89 "2004-08-28T01:39:27Z")
Well, whaddya know… it’s the all-gnocchi gold-medal game!(\*) 🆒 And boy… the _real_ bad-boy-slayer in the play-off turned out to be the Italians. (\*Cultural reference: Argentina has a HUGE population of descendants of Italian immigrants. “Ñoquis” are a common dish in Buenos Aires) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/90 "2004-08-28T02:22:56Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (\*Cultural reference: Argentina has a HUGE population of descendants of Italian immigrants. “Ñoquis” are a common dish in Buenos Aires) Alberto Cortez once told of the way Argentineans really are: the young people think they are Americans (of the USA) and the old ones think they are Europeans, how do you except to govern a country like that?!?! 🙂 Well, now the Argentineans, that were expected to be favorites for the gold in soccer, also now have to root in favor of the basketball team now! Disturbing I say! ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/91 "2004-08-28T03:15:35Z")
I think what U.S.A. needs to do next olympic is only to select new players. The same happens with football in my country, the national team (which has the best players in the world), simply doesn’t try hard enough. They are not ambitious so long as they have their gold houses and rocket cars 🙂 Those primadonas (your Basket team and our football tem) are a disgrace to our countries. Meanwhile Argentina´s olympic football team will be playing for gold in a couple of hours. Those kids are hungry for glory. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/92 "2004-08-28T07:31:51Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > I think what U.S.A. needs to do next olympic is only to select new players. The same happens with football in my country, the national team (which has the best players in the world), simply doesn’t try hard enough. They are not ambitious so long as they have their gold houses and rocket cars 🙂 > Those primadonas (your Basket team and our football tem) are a disgrace to our countries. > Meanwhile Argentina´s olympic football team will be playing for gold in a couple of hours. Those kids are hungry for glory. You absolutley have no idea how many Americans would nod in agreement if they read your words. Also, anyone want to fire their guns at the TV when Allen “Punk-ass-Bitch” Iverson did the press conference with the sideways cap? Fuck, he was the only reason I rooted AGAINST the US team. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/93 "2004-08-28T07:58:53Z")
But Iverson was probably the guttiest player on the US team. He played through the Olympics with a broken thumb. And Iverson was one of the few star players in the NBA who wasn’t backing out or having second thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/94 "2004-08-28T10:07:16Z")
> [@Mullinator](#): > > \As for the US team, it appears clear that one of the issues they have to face, and probably couldn’t overcome with months of practice, are fouls. The stuff they can do on defense in the NBA is called a bit more in the international game. Fouls put good players (Tim Duncan) on the bench for extended stretches all while handcuffing players on the floor from playing a style they are used to. Of course, I think the grab and hold, bump and clog defense in the NBA is abysmal. \ An interesting insight sir. Being Australian, basketball isn’t too big on my own personal radar, but I love sport enough to follow most high profile sports around the world. It seems to me that the NBA has gone the way of NASCAR this past 15 years - that is, putting bums on seats as a more important philosophy than the purism which makes sport what it is. Sure, they’re both insanely popular, but the moment international competition comes along, so does a reality check too. Also, I’m forced to remember this age old truism in sport - namely, a “champion team” will beat a “team of champions”, every time. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/95 "2004-08-28T13:07:58Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > You absolutley have no idea how many Americans would nod in agreement if they read your words. > > Also, anyone want to fire their guns at the TV when Allen “Punk-ass-Bitch” Iverson did the press conference with the sideways cap? Fuck, he was the only reason I rooted AGAINST the US team. The sideways cap is the first commandment for hip hop culture. Notice at the end of every NBA championship how most of the players put the championship hats on sideways. That’s a prime reason I now hate the NBA. I’m so sick of the hip hop/gangsta thug image/music that seems to be a feature of the NBA. Go Lithuania!!! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/96 "2004-08-28T23:24:27Z")
😃 … And the bronze-medal LTU/USA game gets delayed 45 minutes because the teams show up in the wrong-colored jerseys (According to IOC press release, both got told to show up in “home” colours… but nobody seemed to get that for both, “home colours” meant white!) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976/97 "2004-08-29T21:34:58Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Also, anyone want to fire their guns at the TV when Allen “Punk-ass-Bitch” Iverson did the press conference with the sideways cap? No. He’s an uneducated ghetto kid who looks, acts and talks like one. That’s sad and frustrating, but I try and look past that. And I’m no fan at all of what he’s done in the past; at times, I’d go as far as saying I hated him. [But for this event he came, played hard and was a sportsman](http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/columns/story?id=1870490). Other than winning, I don’t know what more you want. If you want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at those who played at 3/4 speed the whole tournament, or at those faces you _didn’t_ see at the press conference: Shaq, McGrady, et al. Not that I’m sure they’d win either; the rest of the world is just better than they used to be, and future US teams will have to spend time practicing as a team and adapting to international ball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-mens-basketball-gets-ass-handed-to-them-by-puerto-rico-how-cool-is-that/259976.md?page=4)